


The Closet Rules

by AshwinMeird



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Athletic Cas, Athletic Dean, Awesome Charlie, Believe Me I Hate It, Bisexual Dean, Cas has a crush on Dean, Closeted Characters, Dean has a crush on Cas, Developing Relationship, First Date, First Kiss, Insecure Dean, M/M, NOT TROPEY, No Dumb Drama, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Castiel, POV Dean, Pansexual Castiel, Shipper Charlie, Smart Cas, Smart Dean, This Is As Realistic As I Can Write It, established Destiel, hand holding, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28377756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshwinMeird/pseuds/AshwinMeird
Summary: In a small town high school Dean and Cas exist in separate friend groups, rarely interacting with each other.  Until they both have an important conversation with Charlie that leads to a date, a relationship, and growth through living out their senior year in the closet with each other.If you are on the fence about reading this I just want you to know that the social dynamics in this are basedveryheavily based on the ones of my own small town high school.  There is going to be no blatant homophobia or drama, I tried to avoid all Hollywood tropey shit at all costs.  If anything this is commentary on high school as a whole, including those ideas.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	1. A Prologue, Of Sorts

**Author's Note:**

> The title will be explained in a few chapters, and it's not what you think.
> 
> Thank you for giving my fic a chance, I know some high school au's are harder to click on due to the cringe, I hope I make it worth it for you.
> 
> Also this is my first venture in writing Cas' POV, let me know how I do!

It was four weeks into Dean’s first semester of his grade twelve year and he was bored.

Not bored as in the typical football ‘jock’ who takes all general courses and hasn’t had homework since the sixth grade and spends all of his freetime screwing around and overall not advancing his life whatsoever, way. That wasn’t Dean, he was in three academic courses this semester and Robotics, but that was mostly due to the fact that he ran out of academic courses to take after completing grades 11 and 12 Physics the year prior.

He had basically figured out his daily schedule to a science.

Biology first thing which didn’t usually involve homework, but he had to transfer the information given to them in a slide show (thank god his teacher actually put the slide show online because he can’t remember the last time he actually paid attention in her class) onto q-cards that he’d look over occasionally and study before a test, which took at about half an hour most nights.

Robotics was next which never involved any outside of the classroom work, at least until the final project was started in January. 

English was proving to be a bit more work but he was pretty well versed in the act of ‘start the essay, bullshit the essay, get a good mark on the essay’ and he was a pretty fast writer especially when the topic interested him, which his English teacher was pretty good at making it. 

Lastly there was Math, which proved to actually be more difficult than the year before but he still only had to put little time into outside of school because he finished the assignments (and internet checked every question) in one night at most, plus about twenty minutes of homework some days.

Other than that he had football practice once a week, maybe twice if he was lucky, and one game. Granted the game was usually over two hours from his house which made for a long ass night but that was only once a week at most.

This left several nights of the week where his homework was done before his Mom had supper on the table at five and he had to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do the next several hours (usually eight or more) in the evening.

So yes, he was very goddamn bored.

To cure his boredom he’d started helping his dad out at the shop, but that led to there being another conflicting work schedule when it came to actually hanging out with his friends outside of school. He was starting to realize, though, that maybe he wasn’t as interested in hanging out with them all the time anyways.

Cole had all but ditched them completely to hang out with his girlfriend Bela, Victor was getting progressively more and more on Dean’s last nerve, but Benny was still pretty chill as was his younger sister Emilia who liked to join in on bitching about Cole and Victor train whenever Dean was over.

He had other people on the football team he could hang out with, like a quarter of them he was related to for some reason, but what he wanted was something romantic.

And Dean knew it was kind of a dick move to want to date someone to cure his boredom, but it wasn’t just that, or even mostly that. He’d ‘dated’ Cassie Robinson in the ninth grade, but that involved little more than hanging out at a few school dances and kissing a few times and Lisa Braeden the year before whom he actually dated. They only lasted about five months, but it was really amazing to feel so close with someone in that capacity, at least until they amicably broke up after realizing they were better off as friends.

So he was looking for something similar to what he had with Lisa, but deeper, more profound, if possible.

He knew people don’t often make high school relationships last, but he’d like to have at least one proper attempt at it before he was out.

Which is why after an entire Robotics class spent dealing with two of his classmates he very muchly wanted to call morons and trying not to send himself into a panic, he stuck around instead of rushing off to lunch as per usual. The teacher left no more than a minute after the rest of the class, leaving Dean alone with the object of his borderline freakout.

Charlie Bradbury was probably what Hollywood would call the most popular girl in his grade, she has most likely struck up a conversation with the entire class at least once and there were few people he would think of to rival her kindness and openness, even though directors would disagree with her distaste for ‘trendy’ clothing and favoritism of computers over real people.

Dean honestly wasn’t too sure she was even aware he was still in the room because she still had her head buried in a box full of robot parts and was bobbing her head to whatever music was coming out of her headphones that she was allowed to wear in class while the teacher wasn’t talking.

He tapped Charlie on the shoulder, raising an eyebrow when she actually jumped, but sat in the seat across from her once she removed her headphones.

“Can I help you with something?” She asked, looking genuine because she always assumes the best in people even though her and Dean have had six, at most, conversations in the twelve years they attended school together.

Dean took a deep breath, he was never the one to ask people out and this is the closest he’s willing to go. “Yeah, um,” He paused, trying to find the easiest way to explain his situation, “You know how I’ve dated Cassie and Lisa?” Dean asked even though the prior didn’t even attend their school; it was a small town, people usually knew shit like this, “I was kind of hoping you’d be able to help me find someone to go out with.”

“Okay…” Charlie leaned back in her chair a little, away from Dean, and that’s when he realized what he was saying sounded like.

“Not you,” He quickly corrected, much to Charlie’s noticeable relief; Dean’s knowledge of her lesbianism was about 90% of the reason he went to her for this in the first place. “It’s just that, between those relationships,” He cleared his throat and dropped Charlie’s inquisitive gaze, “I actually dated somebody else, from a different school. And this person may have played for their school’s football team as well.”

It was clear, through a vague descriptor, that Dean had just admitted to Charlie that he was into dudes, but it apparently required a piece of confirmation.

“So,” Charlie said, drawing the word out long enough that he was forced to look up at her again, “You’re saying you want me to help you find a boyfriend, then?”

Dean nodded, “I’m Bi so it doesn’t really matter to me, but I never really got to do the whole ‘dating package’ with a guy before, that other thing was just for a summer and we both knew it, but I was hoping that as the only out person in our grade, somebody else may have come out to you.”

The sincere look on Charlie’s face was obviously just a cover up for the grin she was failing to suppress, when she said, “I can’t tell you who, but I have someone in mind that I’ll just have to ask. And I won’t use your name, I’ll just say I have a guy interested in a blind date and the two of you can have dinner and maybe a movie in my aunt's cottage.”

“You’d really do that? Just let us use her cottage?”

“She’s been trying to convince me to have a party in it,” Charlie explains, “So I figure two decent guys and no me would actually be less problematic than me with a bunch of drunk people. And this way you two will find out about each other at the same time, and it won’t be public at all.”

“Thank you, Charlie,” He says honestly, because he had been worried about this for the past week since he had decided to approach her.

“Dude, it’s all good. I’m just happy for you, and I actually think you and him will get along really well,” Charlie said, having let her entire face split into a smile, “I was not expecting this but I’m really happy you came to me.”

After that Dean got up to leave, but not before Charlie forced him into a ‘mandatory’ hug and told him she’d discreetly get back to him on whether the date was a go or not. He eventually had to pry her body off of his, which proved to be more difficult than he anticipated with him being football quarterback and team captain and her being like half his size with no practical sports experience.

When he finally left the room to meet his buddies at the sole restaurant in their town, he could see Charlie diving back into her robot with the smile still on her face.

The next two days saw Dean avoiding looking at Charlie in fear that he would see her even standing close to a guy and start thinking they’re his date. It was difficult though, as Charlie was often found talking to some random person in their grade, guy or girl, and half of her main friend group was made of guys.

He failed that once though, when Charlie was turned to speak to Castiel Novak, in their Academic English class. 

His treacherous brain had decided to give him four full minutes of fantasizing that the guy he’s had an interest in (read: a major crush on) since Dean started taking Sam to soccer practices in the first week of school. Dean’s always known Cas, as he referred to him as, was super hot and kind of an awesome dude, but now he’s had to deal with Sam insistently telling Dean that they should be friends so Sam can hang around him off the field.

And fuck if he’d be open to doing that for Sam, if not for the whole _liking_ thing.

It’d just be weird if Dean was suddenly super friendly with the dude, they may not be rivals due to playing different sports, but people were entitled to having the set of close friends of their choosing and Dean and Cas’ just didn’t cross.

~~~~~~~

The first month of Castiel’s graduating year was an odd experience to say the least. As a whole it was like his other high school years, he had his four daily classes and soccer several evenings of the week, but that created an odd juxtaposition to his sixteen year old brother Gabriel’s instance that these final two school terms should be life altering.

As Castiel had said before, his school and home life had changed very little from years prior, but he was still doing what most should in their graduating year: thinking ahead.

Castiel had always been very intelligent and poured constant effort into all school related work, as well as soccer, but he could not slack off now that he was beginning to look at colleges. He was planning to apply for programs related to history, though that was just intended to be a degree he used to get into med school.

Throughout the week Castiel would say that he had a reasonable amount of school work, as he was being prepared to attend high education the following year, but his classes rarely required his weekend time.

Balthazar, whom Castiel made the mistake of befriending at the age of five, decided that he was going to try to give him all aspects of the high school experience Castiel is lacking before they graduate. His attempts have sadly been aided by Gabriel and, less so, by their other close friend Samandriel.

The first thing on Balthazar’s list was having Castiel be captain of the soccer team, which was easy in the sense that Balthazar actually didn’t have to do anything to get the rest of the team to vote for him. Castiel plays center midfield, the ‘most difficult’ position on the team in the sense of duties and strenuousness, and was assistant captain the year prior.

Balthazar also seemed to be entertaining the idea of dragging Castiel to several parties in the coming months even though Castiel has expressed his distaste with the idea of consuming large quantities of alcohol for the purpose of ‘having a good time’. This, however, did not put him off in any way as Balthazar does not see inebriation as a necessary part of attending one such event.

The last part of Balthazar’s plan, or the last in which he informed Castiel of thus far, is to get him a girlfriend. This was far from the first time Balthazar had attempted this. In the seventh grade he sent Meg Masters in his direction which resulted in she and Castiel having a ‘date’ during their field trip to what could loosely be called an amusement park and she kissed him once on the lips before finding someone who would buy her bracelets on her birthday.

After that there was Daphne Allen, whom Castiel somehow found himself dating, but once again they were in the eighth grade and only spoke in school.

More recently, in grade eleven, Balthazar set him up with a girl named Rachel from another school and she and Castiel had a series of ‘dates’ at her house. Only this time the infliction on the word is in reference to the lack of actual date protocol, and abundance of minor sexual acts they attempted.

The person that Balthazar didn’t know about, however, was Cain Shepard, whom Castiel exchanged both hand and blow jobs with in the back of Cain’s truck at a party he was dragged to.

As much as it hurt to admit, even to himself, Castiel agreed with Balthazar. He was interested in pursuing romantic relations with someone in his senior year of high school.

Which is why he had strong feelings of excitement when Charlie Bradbury turned around to him during one English class to ask him to stick around into break.

The thing is, several months ago, after Castiel’s shall we say, enlightening encounter with Cain and subsequent self analysis, Charlie was in his living room assisting Gabriel with a school project related to computers. Castiel was not blind enough to misunderstand the fact that Charlie was clearly helping his brother with a prank, but it didn’t seem to be intended for him so he allowed it.

Before Charlie left, Castiel had time to have a conversation with her about being gay, and related subjects. He was quite forthcoming on why he was asking about these things and Charlie was able to help point him in the direction of several places online where he could find more information and quality people in the queer community.

Castiel was grateful to her and as repayment for being so kind to him he allowed her to ask one question to him. He was, however, taken aback when she did not ask who was the one to make him realize this, but if he was actually interested in anyone at the moment.

He had developed a romantic interest in another male at their school, he told Charlie as much, but did not tell her who it was towards.

After the entire English room cleared out, they had a short break in the afternoons so it was relatively quickly, Charlie started speaking animatedly to him.

“I have a really awesome idea that I think you’ll be interested in,” She whispered hastily.

“If it involves Gabriel I am not interested,” Castiel replied, remembering the last time he got involved in a scheme between Charlie and his brother.

Charlie shook her head violently. “No, nothing like that,” She took a moment to smile eagerly at him and lean closer, “Yesterday a guy, who I will not name, told me he is interested in dudes and wanted to know if I knew anyone who’d be interested in going on a date with him.”

For a second Castiel feared Charlie may have outed him, then he remembered who he was talking to and simply asked, “Why are you telling this to me?”

“Because,” Charlie whined, “I think you should go on a blind date with him, that I’ll set up at my aunt’s cottage.”

“Why me?” He questioned.

“You guys would be perfect together.” Her eyes widened and she averted her gaze to his school provided laptop. “I said I wouldn’t ship real people,” She whispered fervently to herself more so than Castiel.

“You believe that I should do this?”

“It’s completely up to you dude,” Charlie said, snapping out of her trance, “But if you want my opinion; he’s a really good guy and I would advise you to think favorably about this opportunity.”

“Okay,” He said after a moment.

Charlie looked at him suspiciously. “Okay? No follow up questions, nothing?”

“I trust that you think this is something I would be interested in,” He explained, “And I have been told by Balthazar that I should actually try to date as I am, ‘a total catch’.”

Charlie nodded enthusiastically. “You are kind of dreamy, and that’s coming from someone that doesn’t even like dudes,” She paused for a moment, with a large smile spreading across her face, “So you’ll do it? Like I can set up a time and everything?”

“Yes, you may. Preferably during the weekend though.”

Charlie jumped up. “Okay! I’m excited about this, imma gonna go set this shit up- I should probably call my aunt though,” She blabbed before hugging him goodbye and leaving the room in a blur.

Castiel, who had most of his stuff packed away already, was out of the room a minute after her. He turned out of the classroom to head towards the Law room, he had no interest in the subject beyond the basics, but their school didn’t offer any history courses with the exception of one about the county, and he needs two or more Social Studies credits to complete his graduation requirements.

Halfway to his destination was a road blockage in the form of several members of the football team leaning against both sides of the hallway. Castiel, who lacked proper knowledge of most social pleasantries, looked towards the floor as opposed to making awkward eye contact with any of them as he walked.

Or with one player in particular.

Castiel heard Dean say something to one, or all, of the others and laugh after he was past their group. It was just a meaningless reference, something related to a movie Castiel recalls, but his laughter almost makes Castiel stop dead in the hallway.

He hated that Dean had this affect on him, that all it took was a smile, maybe something more to bring Castiel’s romantic, sometimes sexual, interests in him to the surface.

Castiel continued on to the classroom, ignoring Balthazar’s attempts to pull him into a conversation about whatever they were doing in the Family Living class the block before. As per usual it was extremely obscure as well as a concerning topic to be discussing in a classroom, but Castiel ignored him nonetheless.

His mind was preoccupied with his upcoming date. Charlie never said who it was, just that they attended the same school and presumably the same grade.

Castiel supposed that he could most likely narrow down who it could presumably be due to there only being 50 people in their grade, less than half of which are male, among other factors. He chose not to though, as he has a tendency to overthink things such as this.

The bell rang shortly after he entered the room and Castiel prepared himself for the class by focusing all of his energy towards the teacher and upcoming lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-ed by Van'ty, my lovely friend who is not a fan of being sent something after midnight...
> 
> One kudos or comment = one shot of dopamine.


	2. At First Sight, Perhaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they meet!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: typing on a laptop one-handed while simultaneously petting a cat with the other hand is not an easy task.

Dean had first approached Charlie on a Monday; she got back to him on Thursday. 

For those three days between Dean could tell he was acting off; he was constantly letting himself be dragged down a stream of thought and avoided interacting with anyone in the school outside of his immediate friend group.

He was new to all of this; the whole going out with a dude thing. Two summers ago he ‘hung-out’ with Lee Webb from a town just over an hour away. They called it dating, but it really wasn’t that. Mostly they played video games or watched sports, while occasionally getting each other off with hands or mouths.

They never went all the way, though. Dean wanted to be closer to someone before they did that.

None of his friends commented on his behavior, so he figured he kept his mood low key enough to not raise suspicions. He wasn’t afraid to tell any of them, but it had always been his plan to come out to people after he left his small, not exactly open minded, home town.

He figured out the whole Bisexual thing back in the tenth grade when he finally admitted to himself that yes, the female porn-star he was watching is quite hot and sexy, but he had most definitely been solely watching the guy fucking her for the past several minutes.

Dean forced himself to stop reliving that memory, because he didn’t exactly want to be remembering a porno while an overeager eleventh grade boy makes terrible sex references with screws in holes to his poor female class mate across from them.

She was one of the few girls in this class other than Charlie, and apparently hadn’t been forewarned that the assembly of a robot led to some terrible jokes from immature boys. Dean knows that, had either of them been one of his friends or even in his grade, he would be joining in or instigating, but it was just weird with people he never spoke to outside of this class.

The teacher finally dismissed them. Dean, who had been ready to call out the idiot beside him for being overtly crude to the distaste of their partner, sighed with relief.

But that relief only lasted for the second between his partners leaving the table and Charlie sliding into the seat opposite him.

There was a moment where neither of them actually spoke and Charlie just glanced around the room to make sure everyone had cleared out for lunch.

“Hiya,” She said with a smile.

“Hey, Charlie,” Dean greeted, cringing at the worry that slipped into his voice.

She leaned forward, almost secretively. “He said yes,” She whisper-shouted, looking gleeful as Dean had ever seen her.

For a second he panicked, realizing just how real this situation suddenly got. Then the actual excitement, that had yet to present itself, arrived

Dean smiled. It wasn’t as bright or as wide as Charlie’s, and he’s certain his cheeks were flushed, much to his own embarrassment, but at that moment he didn’t care. “So I’ve got a date, then?”

Charlie nodded enthusiastically; Dean had to stop himself from comparing her to a puppy he had seen online once, it felt like a weird thing to do. “Yes,” She confirmed, “There’s no one in my aunt’s cottage, so you can do this anytime, but if you want to have it sooner or later you’re both, to the extent of my knowledge, free tomorrow night and Saturday night.”

“Okay,” Dean rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, “I guess tomorrow would work, I mean no point delaying this if we don’t have to.”

It was a statement, almost said like a question, but Charlie looked at him with what he hoped to be understanding in her eyes.

“Tomorrow night it is then. I’ll have burgers there for the both of you, and I’ve heard you talking about Back To The Future the other day so I trust your taste in movies. My aunt has a normal DVD player so you’ll have to bring CD’s. I’ll give you the address and you should show up at like quarter to seven, yeah that should work”

As Charlie blabbered on about the set up for the date, Dean was imagining himself and a mysterious guy on this date. Burgers were a favorite of Dean’s, did he like them too? Would he like the same movies as him? Has he seen the movies Dean was planning on bringing?

Charlie had apparently stopped speaking. “Did you get all of that?” She asked suspiciously.

“Yeah, um,” Dean stuttered, having been brought back to the present suddenly, “Burgers, movie, six forty-five.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed like Dean’s mother did when he was being purposefully difficult to be around. “Here’s the address,” She handed him a blue sticky note, “I’ll be there when you arrive, but I’ll be out of your hair before he does.”

Charlie stood as Dean said, “Thank you,” just loud enough for her to hear. She smiled at him like it was her that was more excited about this… _deal?_

She may be for the moment, but Dean suspects that by the time he goes to sleep tomorrow, he’ll be very happy about it.

“Charlie,” He said before she made it to the door. With a smirk he, because he had to, asked, “Is he hot?”

“I’ve been known to call him dreamy,” Was her cryptic response, before she left him alone in the Robotics room.

Dean wasn’t a lover of hearts and rainbows and a lot of lovey-dovey stuff, he could enjoy a well made rom-com, even if those were few and far between, but he didn’t know what to make of himself being so eager for this date.

A day and a half was all he had to wait until he was to show at the cottage, less than thirty-two hours. He’s stayed awake longer than that before.

But this was different, time was moving faster and slower. Like his brain was trying to tell him he should be more excited about this.

When the time finally passed Dean ended up being early anyways. Though, that was more to do with the fact that he could never accurately tell how long it took to drive somewhere. He rarely needed a map, but fuck if he could tell _when_ he’d arrive.

The cottage turned out to be the forth or fifth identical, but differently colored, one Dean passed along a dirt road that had him cringing for the undercarriage of his poor Baby.

When he pulled up Charlie was standing on the deck and jumped the railing to lead him behind the cottage. “Your car is recognizable,” She explained.

She let Dean inside the cottage through the front door. It wasn’t much, just a small kitchen to the left with a table in place of an island, on top of which was a bag from the Roadhouse, and a couch and armchair to the right with a decent sized TV. In the back were two bedrooms and a bathroom.

“This is a pretty nice place,” Dean said, with a whistle for dramatic affect.

Charlie, who had been studying his choices in movies to bring (Star Wars: The Original Trilogy, Back to the Future, and one Indiana Jones movie, just for a variety of choices), looked around like it was also her first time seeing it. “It’s cool, yeah,” She agreed, “I don’t really spend much time here though, Wi-Fi isn’t great.”

Charlie and Dean talked for a bit, they had more in common than he would have thought. They liked a lot of similar movies and games. Dean thought that maybe the two of them might become friends because of this.

Charlie left a few minutes before seven, stating that whomever Dean was meeting was an overly punctual person.

That made Dean question his compatibility with this person, before electing once and for all, to judge them _after_ he actually knew who to judge.

Even though his brain had already decided to envision a certain Novak as the imagined version of Dean’s soon-to-show-up date.

Now that Charlie had left there wasn’t much for Dean to do. He wasn’t much for fucking around on his phone or sitting still in wait, so he decided to be productive and start pulling the food out of its bag.

Charlie had said he could use whatever he wished from the cottage; Dean pulled two plates and two cups out of the cabinets after searching around a bit. The first styrofoam box he opened held only a regular Roadhouse double burger and some fries, Dean felt odd touching someone else’s food, but just washed his hands once before placing the burger onto the plate and (carefully) dumping the fries on beside it.

The second box, to his surprise, had his name written on it in Jo’s chicken scratch. He moved his own food onto a separate plate with much less care than he did his date’s.

After tossing the garbage and filling the two cups with water, because both he and Charlie apparently forgot drinks for this thing, he heard the sounds of an old car pull up.

He may know cars, but he wasn’t the best at distinguishing them based on sound. It could be anything between a car as old as his and something early 2000’s or ‘90’s that someone felt the need to put a sketchy muffler from Amazon on to make it ‘sound cool’.

At least it wasn’t one of those jacked up five-cent trucks that some guys in his grade didn’t realize screamed toxic masculinity and overcompensation.

He stayed at the table until the door opened. Charlie said his date was just going to walk in whenever he arrived, so Dean wasn’t surprised by this.

What did surprise him, however, was when the door opened towards Dean, blocking him from view, was the voice that tentatively said, “Hello?”

A second later, in stepped Castiel Novak.

Dean froze; he couldn’t say anything, he just swallowed once trying not to choke.

The thing about being faced with someone you like, most specifically a crush, is that it’s hard to tell how you’ll react. With girls Dean can put on an easy smile and chat sweetly to them, maybe even let it transition to flirting if it feels appropriate.

He didn’t quite freeze, he knows that he turned around and stood from his chair. But everything seemed to be clouded by his brain screaming, ‘It’s him. It’s your crush. It’s Cas.’

Facing Castiel, who was his _date_ (how awesome is that?), Dean was finally able to force out, “H-hey, Castiel.”

For a second Dean feared that Cas would say he was unhappy with his mystery date being Dean, or worse that he lied to Charlie about this whole thing. Then Cas quirked the corner of his lips into a smile that Dean had never noticed, not that he watched him or anything, pointed towards anyone else.

“Hello, Dean.”

~~~~~~~

Charlie cornered him after English again on Friday, this time with a note telling him to stay in class at the break that looked to be almost covered in hearts in a variety of pen colors.

She sat ahead of him, so it was easy for Cas to lean to the side a small amount and look to her computer screen. Charlie was playing a video game that appeared to involve using what appeared to be a skate on a hockey stick to break the wall of a building.

Once she broke several of the walls in this manner, the upper floor of the building remained suspended in the air, which was highly unrealistic, but Castiel supposes that it is just a fictitious game created for entertainment and not accuracy.

Castiel himself was also disregarding their teachers instructions of working on their essay during this block though. He had written all of it the night prior, as he cannot write anything well within a classroom environment.

He supposed that it was just his luck that such an environment was not conducive to him producing quality work.

The last minutes of class he was required to sit through quietly, even though there was a six person conversation happening in the back corner of the room, was spent doing geography quizzes on the capital of each country in the world. He can already name and locate all of the countries so this was the next thing he wanted to accomplish.

By the time the teacher was watching the time to dismiss them, the entire class with the exception of Charlie and himself was lined up to leave. They were dismissed a moment later and followed out of the classroom by their teacher putting the laptop cart back in its place.

Alone in the room, Charlie maneuvered herself so that she was sitting backwards in her chair, facing him.

“How would you react if I told you that you now have plans for tonight?” She asked .

Unsure of how to continue, Castiel simply decided to play along. “I would ask if this has anything to do with the date you offered me.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Of course it does dude. Tonight at seven you’ll be meeting the man of your dreams.”

“Charlie, this is a date, not an arranged marriage. We have no way of knowing if this will be anything more than a one time occasion,” Castiel reasoned.

It was easier this way, to pretend that he knew going into this that it wouldn’t work. Castiel tended to look towards things in a rather pessimistic way when he was unsure of how they would affect him.

She looked unfettered though, Charlie was the anti-form of him in this regard. She preferred to look at things optimistically, but Castiel still commended her ability to do so without using rose colored glasses. Charlie was a good balance of the two outlooks, perhaps he could follow her example.

“I believe in the two of you,” She explains, “Whether you decided that this was not what you were looking for or, as I think it will go, you decided to try and keep this thing going, I know it’ll be the right choice.”

Castiel nodded at her in thanks. Acknowledging that he appreciated her support and willingness to see that this may not go as well as she hoped was easy for him to do.

Several minutes later Castiel exited the classroom, with a blue sticky note in his pocket and some of Charlie’s excitement for the date later that day having spread to him.

As per usual Castiel passed the group of football players on his way to the Law room. Today the bench that is in this location some days and not others, seemed to be in their possession once more.

The one thing that caught him off guard though, was Dean Winchester sitting on the bench seemingly not speaking to any of his team mates.

Castiel wondered what the cause of this might be; a disagreement with his team mates, a bad grade, or perhaps just an off day as everyone is entitled to every once and a while.

He forced himself to stop thinking about the football player when he entered the classroom. Balthazar was out for the day which meant Castiel would not have to listen to him go on and on about whatever thing wish, but he would also have to repeat the lesson Roman Law back to him over the weekend.

Castiel wondered why he and Balthazar were such good friends every so often, the two were as different as friends could be. He was introverted and quiet logic oriented while Balthazar was extraverted and had a penchant for spontaneity. They just fit together though, and pairing that with growing up alongside one another created a bond almost as strong as the one Castiel holds with his siblings.

Samandriel sat beside him for class, it was much quieter than usual, but that didn’t mean Castiel didn’t miss Balthazar’s loud presence.

Eventually the class terminated with their teacher wishing them all a nice weekend like he was oblivious to the fact that all of them were exiting the school building to do one of three things this weekend; sports, partying, or sitting around the whole time, with the potential of doing some homework starting Sunday night at about seven.

Castiel drove home in his uncle’s old Lincoln, he was far from the only one in the school to drive an older vehicle and even further from the only one in town. The people around here weren’t poverty rich and trying to show it off, but the culture here was to keep cars like this in the family so many had vehicles that their parents or grandparents drove long ago.

It wasn’t horrendously expensive to maintain an older model in their town due to the Winchester and Singer Auto, the auto shop and restoration business that’s been around since before Castiel was born. He knows very little about cars, but Castiel knows enough to know that the shining oversized black car in the back of the school parking lot belongs to Dean, the son of partial owner John Winchester.

At home Castiel completes what little homework he was required to complete, with the exception of his French video that he was going to work on with Samandriel and Balthazar, once the latter is feeling well enough to do so.

Come dinner time, which is close to seven as it is, Castiel explains to his step-mother Becky, who has been in his life as long as he can remember and who he just calls ‘Mom’, that he won’t be joining them. She lets him leave with minimal explanation due to some parenting advice she acquired about the internet about letting teens make their own choices and having them come to the parents if they need to.

Castiel is glad to have a mother such as Becky; her random parenting philosophies are never harmful, just odd and random at worst.

He leaves at thirty-five after six, the cottage is about twenty minutes from his home if he follows speed limitations and proper driving protocol, but he also prefers to arrive at important events punctually.

The cottage has no vehicles in front of it when Castiel arrives, he does know he is in the right place though as his parents own a cottage several homes further down the road that he and his siblings help clean but can never stay in.

Knowing what was about to happen, his nerves started to act up. To circumvent that issue Castiel focused on the first goal he had to complete; getting inside the cottage.

That was simple enough, just walk up to the door and step inside. Once inside, he noticed there was no one in the visible area; he called out, “Hello?”

Disregarding the slight waver in his tone Castiel took one last step inside and let the spring-door snap shut on its own. He noticed someone sitting at the kitchen table, accompanied by the delightful scent of hamburgers.

A moment later Castiel realized exactly _who_ was waiting for him at the table.

Dean Winchester.

The person in question looked at Castiel in complete pleasant disbelief, though he currently quite figured out what he looked pleased about, Castiel was the one in awe of who was standing in the cottage with him, not the other way around.

“H-hey, Castiel,” Dean said, breathily, and in such a way that didn’t quite sound natural.

Realizing that he was actually standing in the face of his long time crush, and he actually had a chance to enjoy this, hopefully not single, date with Dean, Castiel managed to respond, “Hello, Dean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my lovely Beta, Van'ty, I only bothered you all evening about this lol.
> 
> Leave a kudos or a comment if you so please, they make me all warm and fuzzy!


	3. Date Me, Date Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first daaaaaaate!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said no tropes, not no sap and cliche-ness. This is your warning lol

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you’re just eating an amazing piece of apple pie and then you wake up, and you find out that there’s actually _pecan_ pie waiting for you? Like, you’re so happy about the apple pie and then suddenly you’re faced with something even better and don’t know how to process it.

That’s pretty much what this situation is for Dean.

Cas was good all around; he’s smart, funny, talented, and a good freaking person. HIs looks may have been the first thing that Dean noticed about him, can you really blame him though he’s a teenage boy, but Dean soon learned (mostly via Sam) that Cas is much more.

Dean was worried now, watching Cas look at him with that small quirk of a smile that made him look, if Dean was forced to choose a word, really goddamn adorable.

Neither of them said anything, the tension in the cottage was pure in a way he had never experienced before. Cas was watching him with, something, a good expression, maybe.

Possibly even hope.

Dean was suddenly faced with the realization that he had made it this far thanks to Charlie and was now going to be on his own. Something must have shown on his face because Castiel’s smile faltered and he asked, “Dean, is there something wrong?” Dean shook his head. “I am not privy to the proper etiquette in these situations, but perhaps the two of us should speak honestly and decide how to continue,” Cas suggested.

“Yeah, uh,” Dean’s voice was wavering at best, “Let’s just sit, I guess.”

They sat. Dean couldn’t bring himself to look at Cas, in any other situation, with any other person, he’d be able to slap on a smile or make a joke, but not now. Cas was different, he wasn’t being forced to spend time with Dean or already one of Dean’s relatives. He had no obligation to Dean and that meant he could leave if he wanted, but…

Dean didn’t want him to.

He finally willed himself to look up at Cas, knowing he was just acting like a poorly written character out of a cheap romance film targeted at teenage girls. Cas was watching him with a calculating expression, it made Dean’s nerves fire off and he wanted to throw walls around himself to stop the feelings.

Their eyes caught each other, it wasn’t like a movie where Dean couldn’t look away, but for the first time ever, perhaps, he was close enough to Cas that he could just _see_.

“Dean,” Cas said, effectively breaking whatever the two of them had just been doing.

Dean swallowed and responded with a hesitant, “Cas.”

Cas narrowed his eyes. “You call me ‘Cas’?” He asked, seeming more intrigued than angry.

Dean snapped out of his little momentary trance to realize that he had completely shot himself in the foot. “Uh, sorry? I kinda just started calling you that in my head after…” Dean trailed off, never actually explaining when the ‘after’ was.

“You think about me?” Cas asked, tilting his head to the side in the way that Dean had seen him do to many others in the past.

“This is awkward,” Dean muttered, willing himself to shrink in his chair as he broke eye contact for the first time in several minutes.

“Why must it be awkward?” Cas asked, intrigued, “I see no reason for us to be unable to have a mature conversation regarding if we think about each other, Dean.”

Dean looked back up when he heard Cas say his name; there was just something about it. He tried to speak but all the words he could form were, “I do.”

“You do, what?” Cas did the head tilt thing again, but Dean forced himself to not break eye contact in order to compose himself another time.

“Think about you,” Dean supplied bluntly, not knowing where his sudden courage was coming from. Maybe from the way Cas was looking at him, or Charlie’s insistence that they would be good together, or just from the fact that it was _Cas_ sitting across from him. “In a, uh,” Dean winced, “In a non-platonic, non-hetero way.”

Cas didn’t say anything. Dean just broke seven of his own personal rules about feelings and openly stated that he liked the dude _in a gay way_ and Cas just returned to staring into Dean’s freaking soul.

Dean shifted away, moving to turn in his seat. “Look man, sorry ‘bout that,” Dean muttered, mostly to himself if he were to be honest, “I’ll just leave you alone.”

When Dean moved to stand up a hand was placed on his arm, making him hesitate. “Are you required to be somewhere else, Dean?” Cas asked earnestly.

“No…”

Cas tilted his head again, dude must have a sore neck, before further questioning, “They why are you trying to leave?”

And fuck, Cas sounded really damn sincere so Dean flopped back in his chair in defeat. “I don’t know, maybe because I have some stupid teenager feelings towards you?” It was a touch harsher than he meant it, but he was quite sure that he was never going to get to talk to Cas after this anyways.

“We are teenagers,” Cas stated, confused.

Dean rolled his eyes at Cas’ literal thinking. “I mean that I’ve got these,” Dean would say it in his head but refused to say the word ‘crush’ aloud unless he was teasing Sammy, “Romantic feelings and shit for you and I’m not supposed to be having them.”

“When Charlie approached me she referred to this as a ‘blind date’,” Cas said, “From my understanding that does imply ‘romantic feelings and shit’,” He used actual finger quotes and Dean just wanted to tease him, if only to see him smile, “So why do you feel yours are not wanted in this situation?”

Dean swallowed, wondering how he was supposed to explain one sided feelings and dating people with different strengths of feelings towards one another, when Cas continued, “That would also make my feelings towards you unwanted, would it not?”

“Cas,” Dean sat up in his chair, “Are you saying- do you…?”

“Am I a homosexual?” Dean nods stiltedly, “That is the most accurate way I can describe it, yes. And I think about you as well.”

Dean stared at him, stunned. His brain could only process one thing at a time.

“I’m bisexual,” He whispered, “Just if were sharing.”

The two of them sat there, unable to look anywhere but into the other’s eyes, watching each other silently, waiting for one of them to make the next move. Dean became aware of Cas’ hand on his arm, it was a warm feeling.

He, without moving any other part of his body, slowly slid his arm away until Cas’ hand was lying overtop of his. Dean broke eye contact first, watching Cas’ perfectly still hand until he looked back up again.

In the moment their eyes caught each other's, there were silent promises, until Cas shifted his hand and let their fingers intertwined.

This was the start of something, Dean could almost feel it, whether it lasted forever or no time at all they were in something together. 

He just watched their conjoined hands; it scared Dean, most parts of what was happening at that moment, they’re two small town, closeted boys there were a million ways this could go wrong even if Dean knew he would be physically safe if his secret got out.

This was different than it had been with Lee. With him Dean could almost trick himself into thinking that they were just a couple of straight buddies that got each other off every so often, but he didn’t want that with Cas.

Why would Cas want dates and romance and all that with him, Dean was just average. Sure he could throw a ball and not flunk out but so could the majority of their grade.

Cas’ hand relaxed slightly, and Dean’s eyes shot back up to his face wondering what he could possibly have done already to push Cas away. “You seem apprehensive, Dean. I thought this was what we both wanted?”

Dean froze, realizing that he was not actually the only one in this situation with feelings and nerves. “I do Cas, I mean obviously I want this,” He squeezed Cas’ hand tentatively, “And all that other lovey stuff or whatever you want to do, but I just,” Dean shook his head dismissively, “I’m just having a hard time figuring out why you want this with me.”

Cas’ squint eyes that had been on Dean developed a harshness to them. “I have already expressed my interest in you, so I will just assure you that I did not say those things falsely.” Cas paused to just watch him for a moment. “And we only know each other inside of a classroom, Dean, but I know that you are kind and smart, and a multitude of other things.”

Dean didn’t believe Cas, not entirely, but he was willing to let himself try so long as it was always told to him with a hand in his and a hot boy telling it to him.

“You’re just kind of awesome all around, Cas,” Dean said back, realizing only afterwards that Cas wouldn’t know Dean used that word for the likes of Zeppelin and baby brothers.

The smile Cas gave him made Dean think that he knew anyways.

~~~~~~~

Castiel never thought that he would see the day that Dean Winchester acted insecurely about something. He was a well trained sportsman with many different experiences that have given him a confidence many people strive to obtain.

Maybe Castiel started by liking confident Dean, but he could see himself getting along quite well with a less confident one. That even put them on a level playing field, so to speak.

He smiled when Dean called him ‘awesome’; Castiel lucked himself, or Charlie did, into a date with the one person in their small school to whom he was actually attracted so he felt entitled to lavishing in the small amount of praise.

Dean also called him Cas. Castiel rarely let anyone call him anything but his own name, he did not actually _let_ anyone, Balthazar has just refused to stop and continues to find more outlandish or annoying things to refer to Castiel by, but Castiel was strangely okay with Dean saying the shortened version of his name.

Before arriving earlier, Castiel hadn’t been sure what would come out of this evening. Now he was more unsure than ever; he felt like he and Dean could try out a romantic relationship, or perhaps all Dean was interested in was a sexual one.

“What is this,” Castiel moved his half of their intertwined hands slightly, “To you Dean?”

“The hand holding or the…” Dean waved his free hand over the table. There were two plates, each containing a large hamburger and the rest of the plate covered in french fries, which Castiel had not previously noticed.

“Charlie’s original purpose for being here is no longer the exact circumstances of the situation, so the first I suppose.”

Dean looked away from Castiel, sinking into his chair a small amount. “I guess we’re just two people that, uh, think about each other,” Dean spoke a moment later, “And maybe we just see what happens after we do what Charlie wants us to?”

He looked nervous as Castiel felt, but his demeanor changed after Castiel said, “Okay, shall we eat then?”

“Yeah,” Dean grinned, “They’re Ellen’s burgers- Roadhouse burgers, so they’re still great even if they’re a little cold.”

Dean shifted the plates in front of each of them, Castiel’s looked as though it came straight from the kitchen as opposed to the take out box he could see in the trash bin in the corner. He couldn’t help but wonder if that was Dean’s doing.

Castiel examined the hamburger in front of him. He had seen his brothers and sisters eat them before, but he always chose something simple off of the menu, like chicken strips, because he had a rather eclectic taste in food as a small child due to his step mother taking over cooking most meals when Castiel’s father was writing.

“Dude,” Castiel looked up to see Dean eyeing him, “You’ve had a burger before, right?”

Castiel grimaced, he hated explaining to people that he would most likely not enjoy their favorite food; many seem to take it as a personal offense if you don’t like their internet-found recipe. “I have not,” He admitted, watching Dean’s reaction.

Dean did look offended for a moment, before a surprise look replaced it. “There are only two restaurants in this town, and both of them have mostly burgers on the menu. How’ve you never even _tried_ one?”

“I did not want to,” Castiel explained simply.

“Oh,” Dean, who had been leaning very close to Castiel, moved away hastily, “You don’t gotta eat it man, we can just watch a movie or you can leave… It’s up to you.”

Castiel’s focus snapped back to Dean, who was eyeing him warily. “I would like to try it now.”

“You don’t gotta…” Dean still looked unsure.

Castiel resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, Gabriel had told him it was rude in the past, before deciding, “No Dean, you are in no way forcing me to do this but I would still like to try something that you enjoy. Is that not what dates are for?”

Dean was watching him with wide eyes and an agape mouth as Castiel finally lifted his burger to his mouth. It was difficult to hold it correctly and some of the contents of the hamburger spilled back onto the plate, but he managed to take a bite nonetheless.

It was an interesting combination of taste, Castiel could not describe taste but he enjoyed it immensely. He swallowed the first bite and had to withhold a rather indecent sound from escaping him, he only partially succeeded though.

Castiel looked back up after placing the burger back on the plate. Dean was watching him, still with wide eyes but something about his expression was different that Castiel could not identify. “So,” Dean coughed, then pulled a smirk on his face, “You like it?”

“It made me happy,” Castiel said.

Dean smiled genuinely, in a way that made his eyes sparkle. “I’m glad. Can’t have you hating my favorite food, now can we,” Dean teased, turning towards his own plate and starting to eat his own burger.

So they had one thing in common, even if Castiel just discovered that he liked burgers; there would be more things along the way, he just had to wait and see how long ‘the way’ is.

After a moment Castiel picked his own burger back up, eating a few more bites before he caught Dean watching him. Castiel tilted his head to the side, but Dean herely chucked and finished off his burger.

Once Castiel finished his burger he was intrigued to find himself unhappy about it.

“Ellen’s burgers are the best right?” Dean asked.

“I have no prior examples to compare it to, but I enjoyed it.”

“I’ll just have to show you some more great burgers then,” Dean was smirking again, then it faltered. “If you want that, I mean,” He amended.

“That would be wonderful, Dean,” Castiel smiled at him, just softly, but Dean mirrored his expression a second later.

Dean ducked his head before speaking again. “I’m not really ready for the whole ‘out’ thing, so I can just make you burgers at my house. I make them all the time and haven’t gotten any complaints.”

“I am on this date because I want to stay in the closet,” Castiel said, hoping to ease some of Dean’s worries, “And a date at your house would be fine.”

“That’s great.”

For the next few minutes both he and Dean ate the remainder of their french fries, until Castiel had reached the point where he was no longer in need of more food.

“I believe you and Charlie both mentioned a movie?” Castiel said suddenly.

Dean raised an eyebrow at him, then finished off his last few french fries. “Yeah, I brought a couple that we can pop into the TV. Do you want to watch one?”

Castiel nodded and the two of them made their way over to the couch. There were other places to sit, but neither he nor Dean made a move to choose another place.

Dean handed him a stack of several movies, Castiel had heard of most of them but did not know what any of them were about. “I don’t have a preference,” Castiel said, looking to Dean.

“Well are there any that you haven’t seen?” Dean asked.

“All of them.”

Dean gaped at him for the second time that evening. “No burgers or movies? What did you do as a kid?”

“I had a penchant for reading,” Castiel deadpanned.

“Okay then,” Dean chuckled to himself, “We can just start with Star Wars, and I’ll continue your movie education on our next date.”

Dean turned the movie on with no further comment from Castiel.

It was an interesting movie, Castiel enjoyed the sci-fi genre already through books so it was interesting to see it adapted to cinematography. Dean seemed to be invested in Castiel more so than the movie, though.

Neither of them spoke during the movie, but Castiel could see Dean mouthing along with some of the speaking. It was a small couch, but they weren’t close enough to touch each other without it being intentional.

Castiel was unsure of how to make the first move though, but once they started to near the climax of the movie Dean clasped their hands together once more.

After the credits began to play, Dean turned to Castiel, keeping their hands interlocked, and asked with a wide smile, “So what did ya think?”

It was amusing to see such childish wonder on Dean’s face, but Castiel simply answered, “It was an excellent movie, I look forward to continuing the story.”

They were staring at each other once more; Dean looked like he wanted to drop his gaze, instead he said, “Then I’ll just have to show you them.”

“Are you sure you would like another date, Dean?” Castiel asked, unsure of himself.

“Hell yeah,” Dean whispered, “Give me your number and I can text you when my parents are not going to be home.”

Castiel handed his phone to Dean, who in turn handed his to Castiel. Something about that evening felt more real for Castiel once he actually had Dean’s number in his phone.

“I guess we should probably go,” Dean said eventually, “The earlier I’m back the less questions my parents’ll ask.” Castiel nodded.

The two of them exited the cottage not long after that, still hand in hand. When Castiel stepped towards his car and Dean towards a path around the back of the cottage they both stopped.

“This is bye, I suppose?” Dean asked, looking at their hands.

Castiel, regrettably, was the one to let go first. “Goodbye, Dean,” He said as his hand returned to his side.

Dean smiled at him. “Bye Cas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was hard to write, I don't do much beginning of a relationship stuff and honestly my brain just wanted them to be all cutesy and in love. Hope it is good though.
> 
> I'm excited to do the whole developing relationship thing from here on out.


	4. Ode To Charlie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys give Charlie the appreciation she deserves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short 'cause the education system can go suck a dick on Broadway.

His date with Cas was yesterday. Dean wasn’t questioned on his where-about then even though he spent an extra thirty minutes sitting in Baby before he drove back to his house. He knew that the smile on his face would have been enough to draw suspicion from his family and he wasn’t sure that he could come up with a legitimate way to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Since Dean had some out himself he had a sort of personal rule that, unless dangerous to do so, he wouldn’t deny his sexuality.

Denial did not, however, include things such as avoiding a question, changing the topic of a conversation, or any other method of avoidance.

He didn’t figure that something like that would ever be a problem in his little town. People preferred to assume that everyone was straight to the degree that everyone should just become sticks to live up to their expectations. Dean was also not worried for the simple reason that he, of the ones he knows about, did not conform to many or most internet stereotypes related to gay or bi people.

Still though, he had just been on an actual date with a dude so his brain was ready for an injection of overcompensation the size of Texas.

Dean landed down at his dad and Bobby’s shop at noon on Saturday, also known as about half an hour after he woke up. Since he wasn’t a certified mechanic he wasn’t allowed to work on any of the cars brought in by actual customers, but he could fix up some of the restoration projects his dad and Bobby kept in the back of the shop.

It was quiet in the shop, Dad was off that day to take Sammy to his soccer game and it was just Bobby and maybe one other guy up in the main part of the garage, just working through the long list of inspections that needed to be done. There was always an influx of them starting around this time of the year; October through January seem to be birthday season.

He was fixing up the 350-ci V8 motor in an old ‘71 Chevelle, just thinking about his date and letting his mind be blank simultaneously when Bobby knocked on the roof, startling him.

“What’s up, Bobby?” Dean asked like he hadn’t just smacked his head on the underside of the hood.

Bobby just grunted once before vaguely pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. “Some girl wants to talk to you, drove here in a yellow Gremlin of all things,” He explained, before shuffling back over to one of two Honda Civics currently in the shop.

When Dean made it into the lobby- well they call it a lobby- of the shop Charlie was sitting on top of the old coffee table as opposed to one of the several chairs surrounding it. “Made yourself at home?” He asked letting the door close behind him.

Charlie turned to him with a defiant look on her face. “You boss-man said to take a seat, he never said where specifically.”

Dean laughed, before recollecting himself and asking, “So what’re you doing here Charlie?”

“I’m an impatient person,” She admitted, “I had to know how last night went.”

He took the chair directly in front of her. “It went well, we’ve got another date planned just don’t know when it’s happening yet,” Was all he offered up.

“Really?” Charlie was leaning forward and grabbed onto his shoulders for balance. “You better not be lying to me Dean Winchester,” She threatened.

“I’m not, I’m not,” He defended, trying not to smile.

She assessed him for a moment before leaning back again. “So any specifics you’d like to tell me. I mean, I need the feedback if I’m going to become a professional matchmaker after this.”

“Fine,” Dean rolled his eyes dramatically, “I was not expecting it to be him first of all-”

“Good thing or bad thing?”

“You set me up with the hottest guy at our school and he’s going on a _second_ date with me, it’s definitely a good thing. Other than that the date was fun, but did you know that Cas had never seen any of the movies I brought?”

Charlie paled. “Not even Star Wars?”

“Nope,” Dean shook his head, “It’s gonna be great introducing him to all of these movies for the first time, he’s kind of clueless when it comes to this stuff apparently.”

“‘All’? As in you think this could be happening for a while?” She asked tentatively. “I didn’t think the two of you would move this fast.”

“It’s not like a guaranteed thing, we're just seeing what happens for now,” Dean explained. “And we kind of figured out that we both liked each other already, but we’re still going to take it slow because we don’t actually know each other very well.”

“You both? Already?” Charlie sounded flabbergasted, “How did I miss that?”

Dean shrugged; “Neither of us are exactly advertising it.”

Charlie mimicked his shrug before the table buzzed below her. She quickly read her phone with a small frown, before standing up from the coffee table. “I guess I should go start to program my own dating app, since I’ve brought the two of you together…” She sighed.

“Please don’t,” Dean grimaced. 

Charlie laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t, but I do have to go.”

“One last thing,” Dean said before she turned away. Charlie looked up at him happily, as he said, “I just wanted to thank you, this wouldn’t have happened without you.”

She smiled widely at him. “I’m always happy to help out my fellow gays,” She said, “And I’m sure you would have gotten there on your own eventually.”

Dean rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “No, I wouldn’t have at least. Talking to you was almost too much for me.”

“You can always come to me,” Charlie told him sincerely.

Dean muttered his thanks before she engulfed him in a back breaking hug. Once she finally let go and skipped out of the door, Dean returned to the Chevelle.

“Anything you want to say, Boy?” Bobby asked him later, out of familial curiosity.

Dean smirked to himself. “Eventually, maybe,” He responded, getting out his phone to tell Cas that his house would be empty the next Saturday night.

~~~~~~~

Castiel’s date with Dean had been both unexpected and unexpectedly great. He had never been an adventurous person, but trying burgers for the first time and watching the movies Dean loved made for a very pleasant evening.

It was anticlimactic to return to his regular night after having such a twist thrown into it. He and Dean had plans for another date; Dean, who reciprocated Castiel’s budding romantic feelings, and they were going to continue to meet and ‘hangout’.

He went on a date with another male. After all of the issues being homosexual caused in today’s society one would have thought that his entire life would have changed due to that singular event.

But it didn’t.

Castiel went home that evening and went about his Friday night as he normally would; reading while trying to continue to keep Balthazar from doing whatever idiotic thing he found on the internet. Gabriel tried to coerce him into helping make some dessert with a name he would only pronounce in a terrible French and or Italian accent so Castiel had no actual idea what he was talking about.

He did enter the kitchen several hours later to find individual sized cake pieces, but refused to try one on the ground of Gabriel refusing to say what he made them out of.

Castiel unfortunately had a soccer game Saturday morning almost three hours away from his house so he couldn’t get anything done in the morning that he would have liked to have gotten done. He also had to insist to Becky that he would clean his room after he got back in order to keep her from doing it herself.

He had nothing to hide really, any of his embarrassing or revealing items relating to him being a teenage male were hidden away very safely, but her invading his space was not something he wanted.

She reluctantly agreed as he was leaving the house. Becky was just trying to be helpful, but her methods were not to his liking sometimes.

Once Castiel arrived at the game and his team was warming up, he was finally able to start to focus his energy on it. Something caught him by surprise though.

Sam Winchester ran over to their bench a couple of minutes after the rest of the players arrived; he was rarely on time to the games but was never late enough to affect any of the warm up, or even be an inconvenience as several other players still hadn’t put their shin pads on.

What caused Castiel to become unfocused, though, was the presence of John Winchester in the stands and not Dean. He was not surprised that Dean wasn’t there, Dean had only attended one Saturday game, mostly showing up to the weeknight ones, but Castiel had almost been hoping that Dean was going to be there.

Dean or no Dean, the game started not long after and Castiel focused himself once more.

They ended up tying the game with one goal each, Castiel’s school team was an even strength against them so the outcome was not unexpected.

By the time he made it home that day, it was well into the afternoon and something had been eating away at him ever since he had a very short interaction with Sam on the bench. He wanted to talk to Charlie to see if she knew about his and Dean’s interest in one another beforehand.

Castiel sent Charlie a text message requesting that she call him at her earliest convenience as he wished to speak to her about the date.

His phone rang several seconds later. “ _Heyo, Castiel. Or should I say ‘Cas’?_ ” Greeted Charlie’s cheery voice.

Castiel was puzzled for a moment before he asked, “You have been in contact with Dean, I presume?”

“ _I was just talking to him, actually._ ” Her laugh could be heard through the phone, “ _We were talking about you actually, and I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you want to talk about him?_ ”

“I really just had a couple of small questions,” He countered.

“ _Let me guess,_ ” She caroled, “ _You want to know if I knew about your whole preexisting pining for one another?_ ”

“Yes,” He spoke tonelessly.

“ _I didn’t, not really at least. I had my suspicions about you liking him, but I never actually wondered if he liked you back, he just came to me with the whole wanting to date a dude thing so I went with it ‘cause I kind of had this feeling that the two of you would make something of this._ ”

While Charlie spoke Castiel began to smile at the prospect of them, in fact, ‘making something of this’.

“I suppose I owe you a great thanks then Charlie,” He said once she finished.

There was a moment of silence, before, “ _Dean thanked me too, but I think I should let you know that while I did want to give the two of you the best options I could, I did this out of purely selfish reasons._ ” She paused again, “ _The two of you would just be such an awesome power couple and I decided that I would have a hand in making it happen if it was ever going to happen._ ”

Castile was unsure of what a ‘power couple’ was, but he assumed it was a good thing and found himself chuckling quietly.

“ _Um…_ ”

He silenced his laughter. “I am just glad that you are happy for the two of us,” He explained, “I would like to stress that I am very thankful for this, Charlie.”

“ _I know, and it was honestly my pleasure. I’m here if the two of you need anything in the future._ ”

“Goodbye, Charlie,” He said, smiling.

“ _Bye, Caaaaaas,_ ” She said before hanging up the phone.

Castiel decided that maybe he enjoyed being called that by people other than Dean, but he also decided to just keep that to himself for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where we start to see less of Charlie (sorry), the chapters from here on out will revolve around the boys and maybe other people relevant to each one.


	5. Kiss Me Like You Mean It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what the title says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't post last week... oops

Dean had actually managed to text Cas the previous Saturday, which surprised him in and of itself, but that had mostly been because Charlie’s excitement about him and Cas’ budding relationship wore off onto him.

He never thought that he’d be able to actually make a move on Cas, let alone be going on two dates with him a little over a week apart.

Dean was never naive enough to think that his attraction to guys was ever going to just go away, especially once he fully acknowledged it to himself, but he may have categorized it in his head as just a lust thing, like it was with Lee, but this thing with Cas is different. It's more.

His small hometown was not the kind of place to say that guys can’t date guys, they just couldn’t do it here. The gayness was reserved for more liberal, less close, places.

There was no question about it, little heteronormative things permeated life there. A little girl and a little boy were even remotely friends? They ‘liked’ one another; which was weird on several levels. 

People ask about your first crush, kiss, girlfriend (or boyfriend if you’re a chick) because all kids have attraction towards the opposite sex like everyone else and are not too busy trying to figure out why they like Mark and Aly in the same way, its always one or the other for them.

Dean’s dad had always been bad for that, he used to tease Jo and Dean by ‘reminding’ them that even though they weren’t technically cousins, they shouldn’t accidentally fall in love.

Then again John was expecting Dean to follow his, and the rest of his male relatives on that side's career path of being a small town mechanic with a wife and however many kids who were also most likely never going to leave that same small town.

Dean still hadn’t figured out how he was going to break it to his dad that, while he loved working on cars, he wanted to be something else.

To go somewhere else. Outside of their shitty no traffic light town.

He was working towards that, he was doing his best in school and was already finding programs and scholarships to apply for, so all Dean could do now was continue along that path.

And get ready for his date with Cas.

Dean’s parents were out of the house that evening for Jody and Bobby’s for supper with a bunch of other adults and weren’t going to be home until well after one in the morning and Sam was at their grandparents’ with their cousin Gwen. Who Sam got along with most of the time, despite her being two years younger than him.

Dean and Cas texted several times throughout the week, never actually interacting in the two classes they share at school beyond a simple head-nod or ‘hey/hello’ when they ran into one another.

They never spoke about much in depth, but Dean knew from a few questions that he asked that they would start Cas’ movie and pop culture education where Dean started it: Harry Potter.

Mary had started reading the books to him back in like the second grade, and he read through the series himself at least four times before finding other good, and some better, things to read and watch.

Cas was going to arrive at eight. Dean’s parents were supposed to leave at seven, but he decided not to risk them being late and he wanted time to get ready for Cas to get there.

He didn’t end up doing much cleaning once his parents left, the biggest thing he did was move the contents of the coffee table in the living room, to the bottom of it. Dean then started making snacks for them, just some nachos with hamburger, barbeque chicken, cheese, and some peppers how Cas liked them, and a little bit of junk food Dean either had already or bought for them to share.

The nachos were still in the oven when Cas arrived, but Dean had spent the last several minutes, despite it not even being eight yet, trying not to overthink and assume that Cas was not gonna show.

At just about eight on the dot, Dean could hear a car pull in the driveway and he ran to be at the front door to open it for Cas. “Hey,” He greeted, holding the door for Cas to enter. “You can just chuck your shoes there.”

“Thank you, Dean. It is lovely to see you,” Cas said.

Dean smiled and led Cas into the kitchen, pausing once they reached the island to observe Cas’ clothing. He was wearing jeans instead of his usual khakis and a hoodie not a plain jacket with a t-shirt. “Nice hoodie dude,” Dean smirked, “I don’t think I’ve seen you wear one before.”

Cas looked down with an odd expression on his face. “I often wear sweat-shirts and similar garments to soccer matches, but they are not appropriate for the school setting”

“Okay I get it,” Dean said, trying not to smile at the deadly serious look on Cas’ face that was frankly adorable. “I guess I’ll just have to see you outside of ‘the school setting’ more often.”

For a second Dean almost thinks he went too far and that it was too soon for even a light-hearted, flirty remark like that, but Cas responded back just as teasingly, “We have to finish an adequate number of films for you to be satisfied, do we not?”

Dean’s brain sort of died when Cas said the word satisfied in his low gravelly voice, but he just swallowed and nodded. “Speaking of,” He coughed, “I’ve got the Philosopher's Stone, ready to go. It’s the first Harry Potter movie,” He explained.

Cas nods and Dean shows him to the living room before running back to the kitchen to get the nachos, before the two of them sit awkwardly on separate sides of the couch.

“So you’ve never even read the books?” Dean asked as he went to play the movie.

Cas, who took off his hoodie and was wearing a fitted t-shirt, shrugged. “My brother Gabriel went through a phase when he was younger, he read all of them and was quite disappointed when his letter never arrived because he was quite convinced that he was a wizard.”

Dean smirked. “My mom, she read me and Sammy the books, was smart enough to read them after we turned eleven so that never happened to us. What kind of books did you read, ‘cause I know you read a lot.”

“Around that age I read books like _Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe_ and _The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. _”__

__“So you read smart people books?” Dean asked._ _

__Cas gave him a disapproving look. “Any book is good for someone to read, there is no such thing as an unintelligent book.”_ _

__“There’s _Twilight_ ”_ _

__“That is hardly literature, let alone an actual book, Dean,” Cas deadpanned._ _

__Dean laughed before saying, “Why don’t we watch some good literature then?” To which Cas nodded._ _

__~~~~~~~_ _

__His date with Dean had been excellent thus far. Castiel was surprised to find that he did not feel as awkward in the Winchester’s home as he previously anticipated._ _

__Dean was a wonderful host and he and Castiel were able to lightly chat about books before beginning the movie. Cas enjoyed the first Harry Potter movie a considerable amount, it was well made and he was surprised to find that he grew quite invested in it until Dean lightly tapped his shoulder to offer him some Mini Eggs once all of the nachos were gone._ _

__Despite Dean having shut the light off ‘for the experience’, Castiel could still see him picking peppers off of his nachos surreptitiously._ _

__They were sat moderately far from one another at the beginning of the movie, but both him and Dean moved a little closer under the guise of reaching the food on the coffee table, but neither made an actual move until Harry and his friends are given detention in the forbidden forest._ _

__Castiel isn’t sure who gets to say they made the first move as Dean was the one to place his hand between them and Castiel was the one to eventually take hold of it. By the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione are facing Fluffy, the three headed dog, Dean has an arm over Cas’ shoulders and Castiel has one around Dean’s waist._ _

__Once the movie ended, Castiel found himself disappointed that he and Dean would have to separate. Dean however, just returned the TV to the Netflix home screen and the two of them stayed there, cuddled together in the soft glow of the TV._ _

__“So, uh, what did you think?” Dean asked, looking at the coffee table._ _

__Castiel watched Dean, until he finally looked back over to him, when Cas said, “I enjoyed the movie immensely, Dean. I am very happy that you showed it to me.”_ _

__“It’s getting kinda late, so we can’t really watch another one,” Dean said._ _

__“We’ll just have to wait until one of us has an empty house again,” Castiel responded, knowing Dean understood the implication that they would keep this a secret for the foreseeable future. “Until then, we could do something else together.”_ _

__Dean smiled at that. “What’re you thinkin’ Cas?”_ _

__“There are plenty of public places we could go that are secluded enough for us to have a date. Like one of the campgrounds since it closed after September or any beach. We could also go to a town outside of here where no one would recognise us.”_ _

__“You’ve really thought this through, haven’t ya?”_ _

__Castiel finally breaks their eye contact, ducking his head down in embarrassment._ _

__Dean finally lets go of his arm around him, before turning to face him full on while still sitting on the couch. A hand is placed on Castiel’s chin and Dean lightly moves him so they are looking at one another again._ _

__Castiel shifts as well so the two of them are looking right at one another. It feels tremendously intimate to be this close to Dean while his hand is cradling Castiel’s face._ _

__Dean’s eyes drop to Cas’ lips._ _

__Castiel does the same._ _

__“It’s okay Cas, I’ve thought a lot about us too,” Is whispered between them._ _

__Castiel places a hand of his own on Dean’s left shoulder, before slowly moving it across the muscle and onto the back of Dean’s neck._ _

__They both moved forward in tandem, their lips brushing once lightly._ _

__Dean inhaled sharply once, moving away just enough to stare wide-eyed at Castiel, before moving back in._ _

__Their second kiss was so much more than the first. Dean was pressed against him, their lips moving slowly against one another. Neither Dean nor Cas was rushing towards anything, they were just enjoying one another._ _

__After a minute they separated, that was enough for one night._ _

__“Damn,” Dean muttered after they caught each other’s eyes once more._ _

__Castiel smirked. “It was just one kiss, Dean, I didn’t think something so small would affect you so much,” He teased._ _

__“First of all, I remember two kisses,” Dean smiled victoriously, “And kissing you is pretty damn great.”_ _

__“I agree.” They were silent for a moment before Castiel finally sighed, “I do have to get home soon though.”_ _

__Dean smiled sadly at that, but didn’t appear surprised. “I know, but you’re gonna pick our next date, right?” He asked._ _

__“Of course Dean.” Castiel smiled to himself, “I’ll text you about it.”_ _

__Dean took hold of Castiel’s hand again; the two of them walked back to the front door, before he said, “You can text me about stuff that isn’t the date, or call me,” Dean blushed, accentuating the light dusting of freckles on his face, “I like talking to you. Cas.”_ _

__“I enjoy our conversations as well,” Cas replied, now at the front door. “Goodnight Dean.”_ _

__Dean let go of his hand for Castiel to pull his sweater back on. Once it was so, Dean kissed him lightly, muttering, “‘Night Cas.”_ _

__By the time Castiel arrived at his house, it was past eleven-thirty. His house was mostly dark, except for the porch light that he shut off along with locking the door._ _

__Castiel switched on the kitchen light, only to jump slightly when he noticed Gabriel sitting on the kitchen table watching him._ _

__“Where were you?” Gabe asks, almost sounding concerned._ _

__“I was simply at Balthazar’s with him and Samandriel,” Castiel explained easily, having expected someone to be awake when he returned home._ _

__“Why were you out so late?”_ _

__“Why are you still awake if it is, in fact, so late?”_ _

__Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “I’m sixteen and it’s the weekend, I can stay up as late as I want.”_ _

__“Are you not going to Costco with Anna and Mom in the morning?” Castiel questioned. When Gabe nodded, he continued, “Then you should at least pretend to be in bed so Mom doesn’t prevent you from going with them, due to an inadequate amount of sleep.”_ _

__Gabe huffed, but jumped off of the counter anyways. “You should know I’m doing this for the candy, not for you,” Was all he said before going upstairs._ _

__Castiel, too, retired to his bedroom. He was pleased that Gabriel forgot to add any follow-up questions to his evening remarks._ _

__Then his mind returned to Dean, and their date._ _

__And the next one._ _


	6. Quarter Back, Running Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another date and things are talked about (finally).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out the POV will be less uniform, like multiple switches per chapter because the chapter content is going to swing more towards one of the guys more sometimes.

Dean and Cas had been texting daily since their last date. They texted a few times after the first one but didn’t actually say anything of substance until the following date passed.

Really they were just doing the standard ‘getting to know each other’ routine, just over the phone instead of on the dates. It was fun for Dean to slowly start to mesh together the little bits of information he had accidentally gotten over the years about Cas, from Cas himself.

For instance he knew Cas has a bunch of siblings, five in total, but didn’t know that his sister Anna was a grade above his cousin Gwen in school.

Dean was also learning a lot indirectly, like the fact that Cas is the type of person to use full sentences, proper grammar, and punctuation in a text message. Cas also has a dry sense of humor that Dean isn’t quite sure he noticed in the past.

Cas apologized in the messages sometimes for just being himself, especially if he said something funny. He seemed overly concerned that some people couldn’t tell the difference between him being serious or not. Dean could almost always tell though.

In the real world they crossed each other in the hallways and shared classes, but they still didn’t interact in school. To everyone else they were just classmates and casual acquaintances; Dean was planning on asking Cas on their next date if they could think about becoming friends to everyone else so Dean could just talk to him during school.

Another thought crossed his mind though: what are they, if ‘friends’ was too platonic?

Their third date, as chosen by Cas, was scheduled for the Saturday right after their last and they both openly acknowledged that they liked one another. Dean was planning on asking Cas about that too, if he could get the words out.

He didn’t do mushy and romantical shit, how was he supposed to ask Cas to even be his boyfriend officially and did Cas even want that?

Cas did like him though, Dean knew enough to know that.

Dean slipped out of his house at noon on Saturday for their date. His mom was out with Ellen, his dad was at the shop, and Sam was at a friend's house until later that evening.

On the way to the address Cas gave him, which was not far from Charlie’s aunt's cottage, Dean couldn’t help but smile thinking about Cas. Dean was a late night person so he, in turn, didn’t get up until about an hour before he left for the date, but he spent most of last night thinking about what they’d be doing.

Cas had mentioned that it most likely wasn’t a typical date activity but he knew it was something Dean would enjoy. He really had no idea what it could be though, small towns didn’t make for many date options outside of movies and eating.

As he suspected, Dean drove up to a cottage at the address Cas had given him. Cas was waiting out front with his old, interesting, car parked off in a second driveway that led to the cottage.

Dean stepped out of the Impala. “Nice place, are we breaking and entering in broad daylight?”

“No, Dean,” Cas said in a voice that was the vocal equivalent of rolling his eyes, “This is my parent’s cottage.”

“So we’ve got the place all to ourselves?” He smirked teasingly at Cas.

“We are not allowed inside, they’ve winterized it already and would make my siblings and I scrub the place down again.”

“Damn.” Dean tried for half of a second not to ask, but blushed while saying, “So if not to go inside, what’s the plan Date-man?”

That at least finally got Cas to crack a small, still adorable, smile. “We will be in the backyard,” He said before starting around the cottage.

When they made it out back, there was a football on the ground just off the gravel path and nothing else in the yard.

“Thinkin’ of switching teams Cas?” Dean jokes, standing beside Cas, just not close enough that they’re actually touching.

“I believe we have already established that I have done that.” Cas moved so they were against each other from shoulder to hip.

Dean was staring at the football at his feet. His brain couldn’t get past how close Cas was to him at that moment.

They never brought up the kiss last week.

He wanted to walk up and kiss Cas the second he rounded the driveway to the cottage; had thought about it several times since last week.

“Cas,” He mutters, turning to see Cas watching him intently, “Can I kiss you?” The words tasted weird in his mouth, like he was forcing them out rather than being able to just ask something like that easily.

“Of course, Dean. I wish to kiss you as well, and touch you, just in a tactile way. If you would like that.”

Dean twisted so he was standing in front of Cas. “I like being close to you,” Dean muttered. “Brushing arms together and holding hands, all that stuff too. And kissing, obviously.”

Cas gave him one final moment before stepping forward so he was nose to nose with Dean. He leaned in and chastly kissed Dean on the lips.

When he pulled away, Dean was smiling. “Okay, now that that is settled and we have all afternoon, what’re we doing?”

Cas raised an eyebrow. “That seemed fairly obvious to me, what other purpose would you suggest for a couple of balls?”

“I can think of _plenty_ of things to do with balls,” Dean smiled, “But yes, I suppose that was a dumb question.”

“It was not dumb of you to ask, I intentionally left you in the dark about what was happening today.” Cas side stepped Dean and handed him the football.

“So you just wanna toss this back and forth for a bit?”

Cas had stepped a few feet away by the time he turned to say, “I was assuming that is what we would do. Passing is the only thing I know about football.”

“The only thing?” Dean asked. “You’ve gotta know about touchdowns,” Cas shook his head, “Field goals?” Another head shake, “Have you ever watched a game?”

“I am not a fan of watching sports,” Cas explained, “I do not even watch soccer games or track meets. The crowd at those events always make me nervous, so I tend to avoid doing the same to another athlete.”

“Huh,” Dean said, brain stuck on the fact that Cas got nervous about people watching his games. He’d been to many of his soccer games (for Sammy, obviously) and Cas seemed to never be nervous, especially when he ran circles around everyone else on the field.

“I get nervous too, sometimes,” He continued, “A lot of the guys on the team are family, and I don’t want to disappoint any of them or the rest of the team.”

“That is understandable, as I am told the quarterback is one of the most important players. Although I will admit I do not actually know what you do.”

Dean eyed the yard before walking out to the middle of it, Cas following him. “A touchdown,” He started to explain, “Is when the QB, me, throws the ball to a receiver in the end zone. So from that corner of the deck to the corner of the fence,” Dean drew a line in the air with his fingers, “Is where you have to stand behind and I’ll throw it to you.”

Cas walked beyond the ‘line’ and gave Dean a puzzled look. “I have never been thrown a football before, how do I catch it?”

“For now I’ll just toss them to you, I’m pretty good at throwing these by now,” Dean checked his stance and guessed that he was maybe fifteen feet from Cas, “Turn a little so it won’t hit you straight on and hold your hands out a bit when you catch it, then try to pull it in. Kind of like a hug.”

“Is this acceptable?” Cas asked after doing as Dean told him to.

“Yeah that’s good,” Dean said, but he really was only going on memory of how Cole usually did things. “You ready?”

Cas nodded, he had a determined look that was making Dean want to smile. He does this with Sammy all the time so he has a good amount of experience throwing softly at short distances.

The first ball he threw was a little off, he needed a practice run, but Cas still managed to grab it for a second before it fell to the ground.

“Dude that was pretty good,” Dean said as Cas grabbed the ball. When Cas looked like he was about to try and toss it back Dean stopped him. “Just walk it to me, you look dangerous holding it like that.”

Dean met him halfway. Cas could have easily thrown it like a normal ball but Dean had an ulterior motive.

When Cas passed him the ball Dean made sure to grab it with one hand over Cas’. When Cas smiled at him Dean kissed him on the cheek before walking back to his spot.

They continued like that for a while, Dean passing it to Cas and them meeting in the middle. There would be a light kiss most of the time, but sometimes they just looked at one another, either way it was intimate.

Eventually Dean even stepped back a little further because Cas was, somewhat, catching the ball every time. 

Cas asked Dean a few more football questions, mostly broad stuff about player position and the basics of the game, but Dean enjoyed answering them. Cas was smart and he seemed to be able to understand the game a little better after.

“You mentioned many of your teammates are family,” Cas said suddenly, after a small pause in conversation after Dean explained the extra points after touchdowns.

“Yeah, what about it.”

Cas held his hands up, signaling he was ready for a pass before continuing, “The only relative of yours I know of is Sam.”

Dean tossed the ball. “Well Mark and Christian Campbell are my cousins on my mom’s side but I don’t really like any of them and neither do my folks so we only suffer through holidays and stuff.” He kissed Cas when he passed Dean back the ball, “Ash Harvelle, and his sister Jo, their mom is my dad's sister. And Danial Singer’s dad and my dad have been friends since way back so we call him a cousin too.” He got ready to pass to Cas again.

“You have a large family in the area,” Cas commented.

“I guess,” Dean threw the ball, “My mom and dad both grew up around here and not a lot of their family left here either. What about your family?”

“My parents are from Illinois but moved here before I was born. My mother lives back there now, I believe.” Cas kissed him on the cheek at the handoff that time. “It’s just me and my siblings here, and my step-mother Becky’s nephew Gadreel I suppose.”

“He’s on the soccer team too right?”

Cas nodded. “Has Sam mentioned him?”

He tossed the ball to Cas, now a touch faster than at the beginning. “Sam isn’t exactly his number one fan.”

“That sentiment belongs to many, I believe.”

“Everyone likes you though,” Dean countered, not taking the ball when Cas handed it to him.

“Dean?”

“I like you a lot Cas,” He trailed off. “And this is our third date.”

“Is this a proposition, Dean?” Cas asked with his head tilted to one side.

“No,” Dean blushed, “I just wanted to ask if we could be- ugh, you know what I mean.”

Cas raised an eyebrow, while tucking the ball under his arm. “I believe that you should say it Dean.”

“If we could be boyfriends,” Dean said in a loud whisper, before covering his face in his hands. “God I don’t know why I can’t even say it, but I want to. I want us to be together.”

He finally looked up at Cas, expecting something other than the small smile on his face. “It’s okay, Dean. Being nervous isn’t a flaw.” For a moment that was all Cas said, before, “And yes, I would enjoy being your boyfriend immensely.”

“Okay, that good.” Dean smiled.

Cas leaned forward to kiss him again. “Is there anything else you’d like to ask?”

“Actually, I want to be able to talk to you in school,” Dean paused, “But if we just start talking people will ask why. ‘Cause we never talked before, yanno.”

“What if we just start talking somewhere where being social with others is necessary, then there will be no reason for them to ask.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah that works.”

“Then let us continue.” Cas handed him the ball before purposefully walking back to his position.

Dean laughed at his boyfriend as he waved Dean to his own position and then for him to pass the ball to Cas.

They were out there for most of the afternoon, switching to soccer for a little bit but eventually realizing that they were tired. They sat on the couch on the back deck just talking and cuddled to one another until they realized that they should probably each head home.

It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon in Dean’s opinion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted (and wrote) this a day late because (incoming excuse) I got all of the football related information while subtly asking questions during the Superbowl. I don't actually know anything about football.
> 
> I was going to write a soccer portion but that's just... kicking a ball... also I am very tired.


	7. To Party, Or Not To Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Halloween party is coming up, who will go and why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this on International Fanworks Day, that feels right lol.

Castiel was sitting around a table in one of the small study rooms in the library the first time the party on Halloween night was brought up.

It was just him, Balthazar and Samandriel that day. Sometimes they were joined by other senior members of the school soccer team, but the three of them inhabited the room during every lunch period.

He was attempting to finish the work his french teacher assigned the class before lunch so he would not be required to complete it at home that evening on top of his work for his other classes.

“Cassie,” Balthazar said, tapping his hand on Castiel’s binder.

Without looking up he replied, “What do you need Balthazar?”

“You haven’t heard a word I said have you?” Cas didn’t respond, only lifting his head in acknowledgement. “Well now that you’ve graced us with your attention, I’m just letting you know that you’re coming to Bela’s Halloween party next Saturday.”

“Bal-” He started, only to be cut off.

“But it’ll be fun Cassie,” Whined Bal.

Castiel was not a fan of that particular moniker that Balthazar had assigned to him when they were youths, though it was close enough to ‘Cas’ to briefly flash a memory of Dean across his mind.

He waved away the thought of his boyfriend to attempt to control his best friend. “I hardly see what is fun about watching a bunch of underage people drink in excess amounts.”

“But that is what’s fun! And you love to people-watch, so why not choose to do it when they’re way more interesting?”

“You know I am not going to drink.”

“Why is that?” Samandriel asked, looking away from comparing his answers to Castiel’s. “It’s not like you’re not allowed, your parents are pretty chill with that stuff.”

“They may be ‘chill’ as you say, but it is still irresponsible for me to drink, especially in large quantities at my- our- age. And I would have to pay for the purchase of any alcohol I consume.”

“Boring,” Muttered Balthazar fondly, “But you seriously wouldn’t drink like one beer or cooler if somebody just handed it to you?”

“Perhaps, but the draw to try it is not enough to convince me to attend this party,” He informed them.

“What will convince you then, because I’m going to find a way to make you want to be there?”

“This is not simply a matter of whether or not I wish to attend, there are many factors in play,” Castiel said.

“Like?” Samandriel asked, watching him with a puzzled expression. Balthazar groaned across from them but said nothing.

“Who and how many people will be attending to start with. You also mentioned that Bela will be hosting this, but not where; the last party you had me attend took place outdoors and it is far too late in the year to do that now.” He thought for a moment. “How long I will be required to stay for, as well. If I go it will only be enjoyable until I no longer have the energy to participate in social activity.”

Samandriel nodded, contemplating what Cas said.

“Only those few things?” Teased Balthazar, “I would’ve thought you smart enough to come up with a couple more reasons to not be forced to hang around all the stereotypical teens at a party.”

“I could surely come up with more if you wish.”

“No, just give me a minute to refute your claims. I believe that you should attend this party,” Bal started, mimicking the way their Law teacher had them start the quick debates at the beginning of each class, “Because it is only going to be students in grades eleven and twelve from our school there, Bela was very insistent on a controlled number of people after last time, so you will know everybody already and it is taking place in her very big, very warm mansion.

“I just want you to make an appearance, you don’t even have to stay that long. Gabe can even drive you home since there’s no main road between your house and hers.”

“Gabriel does not get his license until next month,” Castiel reminded him.

Samandriel looked up again. “Everyone, including you, has driven before they legally could.”

“Gabe was driving around a year before he even got his learners,” Bal muttered. “And my last excellent point is that you promised me you would try and do the fun senior year things that I want you to.”

“A party is a simple festivity involving many people intent on enjoying an evening they will hardly remember and possibly regret later, not what most would call ‘fun’.”

Balthazar shot him a displeased look. “It is quite literally, exactly what most people would call fun.”

“You have yet to make your closing statement. And I have yet to be properly convinced.”

“A party is not just a mosh pit of booze and babes,” Bal began, “It is the social experience of collecting embarrassing stories of one another, talking to people you rarely get the chance for due to society or something, and the act of bonding as fellow people of the alcohol-induced world before we are all slapped in the face by reality in eight months.

“Therefore, I believe that you should attend the party for those reasons.”

Castiel’s face remained blank. He was unwilling to let Balthazar realize he was considering attending, which would remove any leverage Cas has for not going to future parties.

But Bal did bring up speaking to people he wouldn’t normally, which Castiel was already aware happened since he had spoken to many random acquaintances of his at the last parties he attended. That brought him back to Dean.

Dean already said he was busy this coming weekend and Cas hardly wished to have a second weekend in a row without a date.

The perspectives of forming a public friendship with Dean, however, was enough to make Castiel want to attend. That and seeing Dean in a setting he never had before.

“You have made an excellent case,” Balthazar smirked at him, “And I will consider it over the next few days.”

“You know that the party’s in like nine days right?” Samandriel asked. “That’s giving him all that time to wear you down-”

Balthazar put a hand over his mouth. “No idea what he’s talking about, I’m sure you’ll decide to come all on your own. Right, Cassie?”

Cas rolled his eyes at their antics, as Samandriel attempted to lick Balthazar’s hand and the latter quickly moved it away. “We shall see, now get back to your work or I’m not helping you with the translations.”

“That’s okay, I’ve got Google Translate for that,” Balthazar smirked.

Samandriel sighed. “She can tell when you do that, it’s why you got a bad mark last time.”

Balthazar pulled his binder off of the floor. “Whatever.”

While the two of them attempted to complete the page, through poorly translated french insults and innuendos, Cas found himself inexplicably attempting to formulate a way to approach a discussion with Dean about the upcoming party. Knowing the library was one of the few places in the school with service, he pulled out his phone.

11:48: Castiel Novak: Hello, Dean. I was wondering if you were planning to go to the Halloween party at Bela’s next Saturday?

~~~~~~~

Dean was sitting at the crows’ nest having just got back from grabbing food downstreet. The crows’ nest was really just a couple of couches and benches at the landing of the upper side of the staircase, but it was a pretty chill place for a lot of seniors to sit during breaks.

And yes, it is technically a seniors only space, but other grades sometimes used it when it was vacant.

It wasn’t a status thing or anything, no one cared that much about hierarchy here. It was just compensation given to them by the school to say, ‘You’ve made it this far, please keep going. Here's a soft spot to sit and contemplate graduating in January just to be done with it.”

There was a three-person (although testing had proved five or six can sit on it) couch and two armchairs along with some benches. Dean managed to snag an armchair to himself because he, Benny, and Victor actually got back early for once.

Other people had filtered back to the school though. Jo appeared on her own from the back door of the school somehow, Lisa and Bela came not long after her, and a few others came and went as random chatter floated through the air.

“What’s this party I keep hearin’ about, Bela?” Benny asked from beside Dean.

Dean looked up from his phone, where he had previously been fooling around with some dumb game Sam got him addicted to, to see Bela look puzzled.

“I only mentioned it to a few people so far” She shrugged, “But yeah, there’s a Halloween party at my house that night. And it’s _only_ for people in 11 and 12 at our school.”

“You might want to watch who you mention it to next time, it was written on the board in the French room,” Jo says.

That explains why Dean had not heard about it. His friends usually went to most of the parties that happened, whereas he was more selective but still enjoyed attending a good few of them.

“Who would do that?” Bela looked at Lisa.

“Probably Gordon, he overheard us talking in poli sci this morning.” Bela rolled her eyes but didn’t respond to her.

“So what kind of costumes are y’all wearing?” Victor asked, but it was clear he was more interested in the girls’ answers.

Jo, who had been shuffling the contents of her backpack around, responded without looking up, “A referee. Just a striped top, some shorts, and knee-high socks.”

Vic didn’t look overly impressed, but Lisa and Bela were grinning at one another.

Lisa was first to break. “I’ve got an oversized jersey my dad bought at a hockey game he went to forever ago so I'm going to wear it as a dress, get some nice jewelry, and be a trophy wife.”

“Gold dress,” Bela purred, “Gold heels, anything else shiny I can find, do up my hair real nice and be a gold digger.”

Dean laughed along with everybody else. It was ironic that the two of them would choose that because neither of them would ever actually be the type of person that they were dressing up as.

Costumes at parties like these were never anything more than something you could pull out of your own, or somebody else's, closet at the last minute. Someone might grab some face paint or cheap earrings, but they never really mattered in the long run.

Last year, for shits and giggles, Dean and Benny went to the Halloween party as vampires. They wore all black except for blood-red ties, even though neither of them has a shirt with a collar, and had fake vampire teeth that lasted until they grabbed their first drinks.

There were a few more questions about the specifics of the party because Gordon’s note on the board had apparently not been very descriptive.

It was all just the normal stuff; bring your own liquor, there will be places for coats and shoes, don’t take a car if you're planning on drinking or Bela will have you towed.

Most of their group left to get to the English room early, even though it really didn’t make any difference. But Dean hung back, not wanting to be in a room with Cas and not be able to even look at him for longer than he had to.

Benny hung back too, he was texting somebody on his phone while sitting on a bench.

Dean pulled out his own phone and flipped on his data. Service at the crows’ nest was hit or miss, but one text still popped up.

11:48: Cas: Hello Dean. I was wondering if you were planning to go to Bela’s Halloween party next Saturday?

He smirked. Apparently, he was not the first one of them to realize that the party was an opportunity for them.

Since Cas texted him about it first, he was probably interested in the idea Dean mentioned on their last date; becoming friends publicly. No one would care that they were friends, it was just that there needed to be a specific event that ‘caused’ their friendship because people tended to be nosey assholes.

It sucked that the two of them would have to miss two weekends in a row not seeing each other because Dean was being forced to help his parents with the ‘fall cleaning’ starting tomorrow night and not being done until Sunday, but this party meant they could actually talk to one another like regular people.

Dean thought for a moment, deciding how he wanted to ask this to Cas.

12:07: Dean: Heya Cas, are you thinking what I’m thinking?

~~~~~~~

Castiel received a response from Dean when he arrived home from school, it had been sent not long after his, but neither of his afternoon classes were in the part of the school with signal.

This message, Cas figured, was the cause of the smirk Dean sent him whenever Castiel caught his eye during their English lesson.

3:18: Castiel Novak: I believe we are going to stage a first formal encounter.

3:20: Dean Winchester: Yup, so Cas… Will you be my friend?

Castiel laughed to himself, before responding affirmatively to Dean. They continued texting most of that evening until Cas was the one to say he had to go to sleep.

It was usually Castiel ending their conversations, because, based on what he could tell, Dean often stayed up quite late at night, whereas Cas was usually asleep by around midnight.

He was planning on going to the party, Castiel had known that at lunch even, but he would just wait for a little to tell Balthazar to annoy him, and to see how creative his asking (begging) could get. It was something he and Samandriel enjoyed watching sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like grounding the fic a bit, so there was actual plot (somewhat) and some other people.


	8. Party Hearty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party is upon us, costumes are involved. Our boys 'meet.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this ahead of time for once, turns out I'm really bad at staying ahead of schedule once I get there.
> 
> This is the longest chapter... oops?

Dean was annoyed that he hadn’t been able to talk to Cas since their last date two weeks ago, but they were texting all the time and Dean felt good about maybe stealing his boyfriend away for a little after they were done partying that night.

His costume this year was remarkably original. He was going dressed as a demon.

The idea came after a joke last Halloween from somebody saying that Dean didn’t really fit the ‘aesthetic’, whatever that meant, of a vampire as Benny did.

“Didn’t you dress up like that last year?” Sam asked, peeking his head in the door of Dean’s room.

“No, just the same tie.”

In Sam’s defence, Dean was also wearing similar plain black jeans to last year, but the shirt was actually a dress shirt this time and he had black contacts instead of plastic teeth.

Dean finally turned around from fixing his tie in the mirror. “Dude, what the fuck?”

Sam crossed his arms over his green chest, his green everything. “It’s Kermit The Frog,” He said defensively.

“Sadly I figured that out already,” Dean muttered. “But why?”

“Jess loves the Muppets.”

“Is she going as Miss Piggy,” Sam went red, “Oh dude, she got you to do a couples costume. That’s fucking awesome.”

Dean was grinning from ear to ear as Sam blustered out, “Well you’re a bad demon.”

“Demons are supposed to be bad Sammy, that’s the whole point,” He said condescendingly.

“I mean your costume sucks,” Sam said, pulling a bitchface.

“Don’t respond to that,” His mom called, walking up behind Sam. “Let’s just agree that you both like your costumes and dislike each others'. Alright?”

They both muttered the affirmative, but Sam still stuck his tongue out at Dean as they were shuffled downstairs.

“Ma, have you seen my keys?” Dean called, grabbing at the pockets of the two jackets he wore. He never lost his keys, not once since Dad gave him the Impala the day he got his license.

Sam snorted at him while simultaneously trying to figure out how to get his arms into his jacket with the- whatever that green stuff covering him was called- was limiting his ability to bend his elbows.

“Right here,” Dean turned to his mom holding his keys by the lanyard they were attached to, swinging slightly. “Just a few things before you go.”

“Okay,” Dean said warily.

“One; you need to drop Sam off at Linda’s, and none of that end of the driveway stuff, and you have to pick him up _before_ twelve-thirty. Linda was nice enough to host Kevin’s friends but she still works early tomorrow. Two; no matter what you think, I still hear things, I know what can happen at these parties so please be responsible. And three; you are driving, which means sober. Since I am trusting you to do that, you can take some of your father's non-alcoholic beers from the fridge in the garage.”

Dean nodded. “Thanks, Ma.”

His mom took a step forward so she was close enough to hug. “And I want you to remember that you can still call us if you need anything, I can’t say we won’t be disappointed if something happens but we’d rather you be responsible and ask for help.”

“I know,” He said, wrapping his mom in a quick side hug before saying goodbye and taking the door to the garage.

When he made it out to Baby Sam was already sitting in the passenger seat. Dean tossed the three cans in the trunk before getting in the drivers’ and starting the car.

“Linda’s,” Dean said after a moment. “As in Linda _Tran_?

“Yes, why?”

“Dude you are in for such a boring party.”

~~~~~~~

Balthazar had, as was predictable with his personality, been overjoyed and shocked when Castiel told him he would attend the Halloween party. Samandriel seemed silently pleased, as he often was, but Gabriel had not reacted how Cas expected.

“A party?” Gabe asked, voice a confused whisper. “You’re not allowed to do that.”

“You have been to several parties,” Castiel reminded him.

“Exactly! People like me and Lucy, and Anna, _we_ go to parties. You going to a party is like Dumah going to a party, or Michael doing anything fun.” Gabriel grew increasingly insistent as he rhymed off all of their siblings.

“Anna is twelve, she should not have attended any parties thus far in her life.”

He sighed. “She will at some point, I’ve raised her well.”

“You have not raised her at all Gabe. You have outright refused to babysit as well.”

“Back to the issue at hand,” He smirked, “You do know that you need a costume for tonight right?”

Cas tilted his head. “Balthazar never mentioned that, nor did Samandriel.” _Nor Dean._ “And the last party I attended with them had no costume requirement.”

Gabe gave him a betrayed look. “When did you… Never mind. This is why I was surprised you were going to a _Halloween_ party, but of course they didn’t tell you.” He gripped his chin, squinting dramatically at Cas. “I can see why, the opportunities to call your clothing of choice a costume are endless.”

“Gabriel,” He warned.

“Fine, I’ll help. But just so you know,” He smiled at Cas in a way that only implied bad results, “I get full control and you don’t get to veto my idea.”

Castiel contemplated his brother’s ultimatum. “You do know that me going to this party depends on whether or not I feel comfortable attending an event full of my peers in what you choose to dress me in?”

“Comfortable,” Gabriel continued to assess Cas while holding his chin, “That I can work with. I’ve already got the perfect thing picked out.

“Well, I picked the perfect thing out two weeks ago.”

With that, he was gone out of the living room. Castiel finally started to follow him once Gabe’s feet hit the stairs heading upwards.

When Cas arrived in his bedroom, Gabe was holding up a simple costume. “You cannot be serious,” Castiel muttered.

“What? It’s ironic.”

~~~~~~~

Castiel was driven to the party by Becky, he would have driven himself but she insisted that he shouldn’t have to feel responsible to stay sober when she could easily relieve him of having a car to relocate.

It concerned him, that she was so easily telling, or encouraging, him to consume alcohol that evening.

Nevertheless, she dropped him by the door of the mansion and left with a smile.

Cas walked inside, knowing from past experiences that he would have better luck wandering around in search of Balthazar than he ever would trying to text or call him. After several minutes, and speaking to multiple members of the soccer team, Castiel located him and Samandriel in the dining room.

There was a small collection of people in there with them; their fellow seniors Hannah, Hael, and Inais, as well as Alicia, Max, and Garth.

Cas took note of Max and Garth, both of whom played football with Dean, but greeted the group as a whole.

After some quick and polite greetings, he noticed Balthazar staring at him. “Are you okay, Bal?” Cas asked after most of the group had diverted their attention back to the current topic of discussion.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” He paused, “Or would wear a costume.”

Castiel frowned. “Gabriel informed me that it is mandatory and you, as well as every person I have seen since arriving, are wearing a costume.”

Balthazar shrugged, he was dressed as a pirate and Castiel could only assume it had to do with Bal’s loathing of the movie, and therefore the ship, the Titanic. “I had been hoping you would arrive without one so you’d have to use the psych ward inmate costume I brought ‘just in case’.” He took a moment to contemplate Gabriel’s costume choice; “This works too, a bit on the nose but I like it.”

“Yes well, I hadn’t much choice in the matter and this is supposedly the only one Gabe had lying around.”

“You remember him walking into your kitchen last week dressed as a pornstar from the seventies, pornstache and all?”

“I was there, he was just lucky our parents weren’t home. But I will not complain about this if an adult film entertainer or a mental hospital patient were my only other options.”

Balthazar turned back to their group, muttering a petty, “Whatever.”

Castiel, too, immersed himself with the group of his peers. Some were drinking, coolers seemed to be the drink of choice, and there was a small electronic vaporizer being passed around that he could not quite distinguish the scent of.

The party was, as most high school parties were, strictly brought your own alcohol. People either had a bag to carry it or just the box it was purchased in, some closer friends of Bela’s kept theirs in the large kitchen.

It was verging on eleven-thirty, granted Castiel only arrived at about ten-forty-five, but some of his classmates were worse for the wear.

Alicia was using an equally drunk Jo as a place to lean against and seemed to believe that Jo was her twin, when in fact Max slipped away to the bathroom and just set her on Jo.

Inais had left before Max, having seen some of the other senior men's soccer players and stumbling away.

The worst was Bal. Not that he was terribly drunk or even someone that was difficult while drunk, he had only consumed a beer and a couple sips of something Jo slipped him earlier.

No, the current problem with Bal was that he wanted Cas to fulfil his ‘promise’ of drinking one proffered beverage.

“Need I remind you that I only said I would ‘perhaps’ do it,” Cas said, feeling satisfied at the cloudy, yet thoughtful face Balthazar made.

“I don’t get why you don’t,” He pouted, “Your parents are totally cool with this, they’d buy you some if you asked.”

“Having or not having access to something rarely has any effect on my aspire to acquire it.”

“Wha? Dude slow down,” Bal complained, “Do you or do you not want to drink this?” He held up the can and waved it slightly at Cas.”

“I have no intent to drive or anything of the sort in the immediate future and we are in a social setting, nor would I exceed a single can; I see drinking that as no different than a can of soda in these current circumstances.”

Balthazar seemed a little too far gone to really understand Castiel, Alicia had been pulled away by Max during their conversation, Jo was staring at the ceiling, but Samandriel and Garth nodded at him.

Samandriel would occasionally have a drink if he was in the mood in a certain situation but Castiel wasn’t sure about Garth’s stance on the issue.

Balthazar looked like he was about to comment when a voice a few feet from Castiel said, “What about a non-alcoholic beer?”

Cas had to force himself to keep his smile at an amicable level when he turned to see his boyfriend waving a dark can in the air. He was happy to have an excuse to shut Balthazar up; his friend was never pushy or demanding about things like this, he just had a little trouble understanding other people’s points of view on some subject matters sometimes.

“Those aren’t alcohol though,” Bal protested.

“That’s the point,” Dean laughed, “So, you want one?”

He noticed that Dean was actually holding two cans; one out to Cas and the other to his side, closer to Benny whom Castiel just caught sight of.

“Of course, thank you, Dean.”

Dean handed him the can as he went to sit beside Garth, with only Jo separating him from Cas. Benny sat on the other side of Garth and entered into a conversation between his fellow football player and Samandriel.

Cas cracked open the non-alcoholic beer with a grateful smile, Dean’s plan had worked.

~~~~~~~

Dean first saw Cas at the party just before some girl, whose voice he couldn’t place over the music, yelled that it was half an hour to midnight for some reason. He had been between the back porch and the living room for the majority of the time so Dean never ventured near the dining room until he looked for Cas.

After spotting his boyfriend, and overhearing Balthazar questioning him on if he was going to drink, Dean slipped back into the kitchen to grab two cans of his dad’s beer.

He relocated Benny and told him that they were going to go hang out with Garth, Jo, Max, and some others in the dining room. Benny just followed him with a nod, he was a very passive drunk.

They entered the dining room just as Cas said, “I have no intent to drive or anything of the sort in the immediate future and we are in a social setting, nor would I exceed a single can; I see drinking that as no different than a can of soda in these current circumstances.”

Dean glanced at Balthazar who was holding out a cooler to Cas, but no one in the room said anything. Garth looked like he was just barely holding his tongue.

“What about a non-alcoholic beer,” Dean offered, waving the can in front of him.

Balthazar tried to protest Cas taking the beer, but Cas did it anyways. Dean knew that Balthazar could be kind of, as the British say, a twat, but he was Cas’ friend and Dean trusted his judgement of people.

Dean sat between Garth and Jo, but he had a reason. Jo was drunk, he knew from experience what that looked like, and would need to either throw up or get a drive home soon. He had made it so she was between him and Cas, leaving them the perfect excuse to leave at the same time.

It took several minutes, and another drink from Jo, for his plan to come into full effect.

In the meantime, he was chatting with everyone. Balthazar seemed a little pissy about the whole drink debacle, but Cas was handling him well while smirking every time he took a drink from Dean’s beer.

Someone had brought up the worst Halloween experiences, and Dean was saying, “This one time when me and Sammy were little, he couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, we were binging scary movies. Everything was fine, he liked all of them, until I threw in IT-”

“Dean,” Jo cut him off woozily. She grabbed hold of his arm.

“Yeah,” He muttered, before looking vaguely at the group. “She needs to go home. I’ll take her outside and call her mom.”

Most people nodded, but Cas added, “Would you like any assistance in supporting Jo to the door?”

Dean controlled his face, not smiling that his, super smart, boyfriend had picked up on his plan.

“Yeah sure,” He said, readjusting his grip on Jo as Cas took hold of her as well.

Their little trifecta made its way slowly to the exit, slowing down even more to say goodbye or fend off a friendly drunk. When they made it outside, it was surprisingly warm for Halloween night, Dean helped sit Jo on the bottom porch step before grabbing his phone and calling Ellen.

He and Cas sat mostly in silence until she showed up. Except for the two of them coordinating to get Jo on the grass in time to throw up.

Ellen showed and thanked Dean for calling her.

When they were finally alone Dean turned to Cas and said, “Text one of your friends and say you went home with Ellen.”

Cas gave him a questioning look but did as Dean advised. “How am I to get home now?” He asked after putting his phone back in his pocket.

Dean beckoned him over to the far end of Bela’s driveway, indicating to the side of the road just beyond the start of the treeline. Where Baby sat.

“You drove here yourself?”

“Yeah,” Dea shrugged, “Drank that non-alcoholic stuff all night. And before you ask, I didn’t drive Jo home ‘cause Ellen waits up anyways and wants to build up the knowledge in Jo that she will always be there to call in case Jo ever needs help.”

“That is nice of her,” Cas said as the two of them stepped beside the car.

Dean got in first, followed by Cas. “I’ve got about forty minutes ‘til I’ve gotta pick up Sammy, you wanna do something?”

“What could we do this late at night?”

“Go over to The Point,” Dean suggested, knowing Cas would know that was a common spot for teens to go and chill in their cars.

Definitely not a spot to make out in peace.

Cas nodded, smiling, and Dean took off to the destination. There were a couple of other spots like this one, but this was close to Cas’ place and was one of the less frequented ones.

When they arrived Dean shut Baby off and put a timer on his phone for half an hour, leaving him time to drop Cas off and still be early to get Sam.

“Hey, Cas,” He said, a touch awkward, but still turned to smile at his boyfriend.

“Hello, Dean.” Cas leaned in towards Dean, leaving them close enough to kiss.

Dean was smiling but blushed when he saw Cas smirking at him. He ducked his head and caught sight of Cas’ costume again. “Nice get-up, Babe,” He smirked.

Cas rolled his eyes. “Gabriel believes it is ironic and therefore hilarious, but few understand his humour.”

Dean ran a hand down Cas’ arm, pulling at the Gas n’ Slip vest he was wearing. “Everyone knows you are like the smartest person in our grade.” He shrugged, “You’re the kind of guy that’s going places, you’ll never need to work someplace like this ‘cause you’ll be too busy saving the world.”

After Dean was done talking, it was Cas’ turn to blush. “I feel ridiculous wearing it.”

“No, Cas you are perfect, and just remember you’ll never have to wear it again. If anyone looks dumb it's me, I just picked this off a joke.”

Cas studied his black-with-contacts eyes and red demon ears for a moment. “I believe that a demon works for you. In many religions a demon is a good person who loses their soul trying to save someone they love; it's why I do not strictly believe that the good go to heaven and the bad to hell. Lucifer was an angel before he fell, so ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are not binary in my opinion.”

Dean smirked at Cas, he was enjoying Cas’ praise and just listening to him rattle off facts with his level of conviction.

It didn’t help, though, that Cas’ voice put Dean in a trace where he was pretty sure Cas could ask him to do anything and he would.

“Thank you,” Dean muttered, just now noticing that the two of them had moved even closer together. “You wanna make out?” He asked cheekily, knowing he was deflecting the seriousness of the topic away.

Cas looked caught off guard for a moment, before whispering back, “Of course, Dean.”

Dean moved the last fraction of space between them. Sealing their lips together. They each shifted slightly to be more comfortable, Dean knew the back of the Impala had more room, but didn’t want to interrupt this for such a minor thing.

They stayed like that for a while, only stopping slightly when Dean moved so he was more on top of Cas than beside him.

The kissing was hot and intense, but they seemed to have the underlying agreement that that was as far as they were going that evening.

As much as he didn’t want to, Dean pulled away when his phone went off. He quickly got the car back on the road and pulled to the end of Cas’ driveway, since there were already two cars filling it.

“Goodbye, Dean.”

Dean leaned over to kiss him once more, it was just chaste. “Later, Cas.”

He watched and waited until Cas was fully inside his house before pulling away. He was still early to get Sam. By about one minute.

Sam’s annoyed mood did not dampen Dean’s elated one though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure I explained it terribly but I chose Deanmon and Steve!Cas 'cause of the Destiel related plot point during those storylines.


	9. The Sport Of Speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a soccer game, Cas talks to Bal, to Dean, and Dean with Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, what the fuck even are my chapter titles, lol.

The game had ended in a win for Castiel and his teammates. They had played against one of their more fierce competitors but had only managed to maintain a one-goal lead throughout the duration of play.

That had been their final game of regular season play, the teams in their league would now be ranked and placed into A, AA, or AAA categories for playoff games.

Overall, Cas observed that his teammates had been, naively, pleased with the game. His coaches were disappointed in the team for not scoring more to improve their goals for and against average but seemed satisfied by the win in the least.

The mood in the changing room was pleasant, as it was after a majority of games. Most were lazily removing their uniforms and changing back into their usual attire without haste due to the companionable environment.

Castiel slipped on his team sweater that they had bought the year prior, he thought it only right to come to a sports event properly dressed, as Balthazar snapped him out of his reverie. “Hello? Cassie, are you planning to come back to the real world at some point?”

“I have hardly left Balthazar, I am merely recounting the events of the game in my head.”

“Why? The game is done with.”

Cas sighed. “Done or not, we still have several to play this year, which I will remind you is our last, so I would like to plan how I will play better next game.”

“You got one of the goals and assisted the other, there’s hardly room there for improvement.”

“In order to guarantee a place in the double ‘A’ league, we required a three goal lead, which we did not get, now our placement is to be determined by the events of another two teams playing against each other. Which is completely out of our control.”

Now fully dressed, Cas looked around the changing room to find a good half of the team had exited already. Due to this game taking place at their school, most people had parents drive them in, with the exception of those who have their license already and needed to return to their cars swiftly.

“Dude who cares?” Bal groaned.

Castiel looked at him pensively. “I do and you should be aware of that from my tendency to enjoy competitive activities when we were children and, more so, now.”

Balthazar rolled his eyes, tossing his uniform, which had ended up on the floor, into his drawstring bag. “Why though, you are already the best here and you don’t plan on keeping playing next year?”

“Self-improvement and discipline,” Cas answered honestly. That had always been his personal philosophy in regards to competition driven activities; they were to be about his own person and how he interacted and worked with his own team.

That was still true, even though there was a small portion of him that had been elated to see Dean clapping and smiling in the stands.

That was an entirely different situation.

“You’re allowed to do things for fun,” Bal said, somewhat confoundedly, “You know that right?”

“I find both enjoyment and satisfaction in seeing myself progress towards a goal,” Cas explained.

Balthazar was leaning against the locker bank directly beside where Castiel was organizing the contents of his bag. “That’s not what most people would find fun.”

“I am hardly most people.”

“So is everything you do dictated by self-improvement and the other thing you said, or do you actually do anything purely for selfish reasons?”

The first thought in his head was, unsurprisingly, Dean.

He could not, in good conscience, refer to his relationship as a selfish decision on his own part. Both he and Dean liked being together and making the other happy, which counted towards it being a giving exercise in human interaction.

But there was much more to a relationship than could be quantified by a few simple factors. He would not pretend to be an expert, or even particularly knowledgeable, in regards to dating, but he knew that it should always be mutually beneficial.

“In a way, I suppose.”

That seemed to catch Bal off guard. He stopped leaning against the lockers and raised an eyebrow. “And what, pray tell, would you be talking about?”

“It is nothing of your concern,” Cas said simply.

Balthazar grinned maliciously. “Okay Cassie, I’ll wait until you wanna tell me your big, _personal_ , secret.”

Decided not to warrant that with a response, Castiel stepped away from where he had been changing to look around the room.

Sam Winchester and some of the other younger players had left most recently, but everyone had exited, except for him and Bal. He was always the last one in the room as he tried to maintain an equally clean space to the one they entered prior to the game.

Placing a few small pieces of garbage into the allotted bin, Cas advised Balthazar, “You can stop smirking now, I assure you that whatever you think it is, it is not.”

“Okay, I’m cool now,” He raised his hands defensively, “I won’t even ask you about it.”

From memory, Castiel was sure that statement would remain true for as long as Balthazar’s curiosity stayed in its cage. After that, he would be on the hunt for whatever he believed to be Cas’ secret.

He had no problem keeping something from Balthazar though. When they were ten he kept Bal’s surprise party a secret from him for a month, at fifteen he both hid and helped Gabe prank Bal several times over the course of a week until he was too paranoid to walk through his neighbour's garden on the way to school, and he had only recently started to consider revealing his sexual orientation to Bal.

“You are aware that you have failed to do just that every time you promise it.”

Bal crossed his arms defensively as the two of them started to exit the room. “Well, this time I extra promise it.”

Cas started to question, “Extr-” 

“Don’t. I’m doubling down now, I extra, extra promise.”

They finished the walk to the parking lot in mostly silence, parting ways with a laugh when Bal went to the front parking lot to get in his car and Cas continued further towards the back lot to his.

He preferred not to get in people's way in the parking lot and he drove a larger than average car so he tended to stay in the less populated area.

When he was near enough to properly see his car in the dimming evening light, Castiel could make out a figure leaning on the back of it.

~~~~~~~

Sam and Cas’ soccer game was an interesting watch for Dean. He had ended up between his mother and someone else trying not to look completely out of place when the only soccer rules he knew involved using shoes or sweaters as goalposts.

He could follow the play a bit, it was just run and kick the ball, and he knew the score easily enough to cheer appropriately throughout the game.

Dean, in theory, knew everyone on their team but couldn’t pick them out from across the field for the most part. He could follow Sam because he was used to seeing the kid run like the uncoordinated moose he is and Cas was running freaking laps around the other team and stood out with his mess of dark hair.

Messy, sweaty dark hair that Dean was definitely not relating to anything he may have watched.

Once the game was done Dean slowly made his way out to his car, he knew from Sam that Cas was always the last one to leave the dressing room because he was too much of a good person sometimes.

He was leaning against Cas’ Pimpmobile watching other cars clear out of the lot when Cas finally appeared. 

“Hello, Dean.”

Dean watched as Cas tossed his gym bag into the back of his car, saying, “That was a good game, Captain.”

“We played adequately and achieved the minimum amount required,” Cas muttered offhandedly. “And we both are the captains of our respective teams, that is hardly something you would refer to an equal as.”

“Different sports dude. You played well though.” When Cas flushed and looked away, Dean smirked, saying, “You did and you looked fucking hot while doing it.”

Cas attempted to level Dean’s smirk with a glare, but failed, smiling himself. “I will have to come to one of your football games to see you play, I can assure you that you look much better in your uniform than I do in mine.”

The soccer jerseys and shorts were closing in on seven or so years old so they weren’t the nicest and football padding and jerseys definitely brought more attention to a players physique, but Cas pulled it off nonetheless. “I think you look great all the time.”

“Sappy today, Dean?” Cas teased.

The two were standing what could be considered dangerously close but Dean took a step back, just a second before Sam rounded the edge of a car a few away from them.

“I guess I’ll have to tell you when my next home game is,” Dean said, speaking quieter on instinct.

“I will be there,” Cas said, assuredly.

“Hey, Dean. Hey, Castiel,” Sam said once he was close enough, giving both him and Cas an odd look. Sam wasn’t there for the party so he didn’t fully get the false version of Cas and Dean’s ‘friendship beginning’ like most others did easily.

He hadn’t asked Dean about it, but he was sure this would provoke Sam enough to now.

“Hello, Sam,” Cas greeted politely, triggering Dean to greet his brother as well, just not as politely. “You played an excellent game tonight.”

Sam’s eyes practically lit up with the praise. “Thank you! You did too that pass you made to Bal for the second goal was so smart.”

“He was open,” Cas explained.

“Doesn’t make it any less cool,” Dean muttered, though loud enough for both of them to hear.

“Thank you, Sam, but I should be going home if I would like my supper warm. Goodbye to the both of you.”

Sam and Dean said their goodbyes as well, Dean knowing that he would be texting Cas that night either way.

They got into the Impala and Dean let Cas drive out of the parking lot first, trailing behind him until they each turned towards their respective houses.

He drove for a couple of minutes in a tense silence. Dean contemplated congratulating Sam, but something about speaking at that moment seemed dangerous.

Dean did it anyway. 

“Thanks,” Sam muttered absentmindedly.

“What took you so long to get out of there, I thought you said Cas was always last in the room?” Dean tried asking, to get Sam to stop staring out the window in the least.

“‘Was talking with Andy and his dad.”

“Okay,” Dean said and they fell back into a slightly less tense silence.

After a few minutes, and near the turn onto their road, Sam finally asked, “What’s with you and Cas becoming friends suddenly?”

“We bonded helping Jo get to Ellen’s car at the Halloween party, then I offered him a ride ‘cause we were outside and I was about to go get you anyways.”

Sam seemed unconvinced but didn’t question it further.

When they did pull into their driveway Sam got out of Baby as soon as Dean parked. Dean stayed seated there for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

It had happened before, since he figured out he was Bi, the want to tell someone. It was a weird feeling because most of the time it felt like something he could control and he was okay with staying in the closet until he was someplace he was comfortable being himself and he didn’t have to deal with the people who knew him ‘before he was gay’.

He did want to tell people though. Sam, his parents, Benny, maybe even his other friends. There was just a part of him that liked where he was and he knew some things were going to change when he did come out.

They weren’t necessarily going to be bad changes. He thought about Cas; some would be good.

Instead of trying to figure it out on his own, he decided to talk to Cas about the closet and what they would do individually and as a couple. Dean was still planning on staying in the closet at least until he graduated and could only hope that Cas was okay with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I am going to explain the title of the fic next chapter. 24k into the fic... oops.


	10. This One's For The Title

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what the title says.

Friday nights were always weird to Dean. His friends never did anything on those nights ‘cause they were exhausted from a long week of school and just being teenagers but it wasn’t like the weeknights prior to it.

It was just that: weird.

At that moment Dean was laying on his bed trying to decide what he wanted to do for the rest of the evening. He could bother Sam, which only sometimes resulted in a fun couple of hours; or watch a movie from the list of classic movies he saw and was horrified to find he hadn’t seen all of; or mess around with a game on his Playstation that he used infrequently throughout the week.

He’d usually spent a good chunk of Friday nights doing homework but he had a super lax day that day and the only thing he had to do was a math assignment he had elected to finish on Sunday.

What won in the end, as it had started to over the past few weeks, was texting Cas.

He and Cas, as of the date at a movie theatre an hour out of town, had been dating for just over a month. It was fun and light and easy, just like all the relationships Dean has had in the past.

They spent a lot of time just texting each other random shit, so much, in fact, that a day when Dean hadn’t texted him started to feel like the odd one out.

So far they had been on four dates, not counting the activities in the Impala after Bela’s Halloween party, which was almost as many as Dean had gone on with Lisa during their five-month-long dating period. All the dates had been fun, but once again everything was light and non-serious.

Dean was starting to want it to feel a little more serious though, they were already boyfriend-boyfriend but he had never advanced past making the relationship official with anyone else.

It terrified him in a way.

Coming out was not an option for Dean. He just wasn’t going to do it while in high school. Not publicly at least, but…

A small part of him had started to consider coming out to his parents and Sam, maybe even Benny or Jo, but he couldn’t do it alone.

He knew he had to have a mature conversation about this with Cas, obviously, but Dean also knew that he was not very good at or experienced when it came to starting them, let alone having them.

They couldn’t have it over the phone so Dean needed to figure out when and where they could be alone together for a while.

Before he could, however, his phone started to buzz in his hand. The Star Trek Tumblr he had been scrolling through mindlessly was replaced with an incoming phone call from his mother.

“Hey,” Dean said after picking up.

“ _Supper’s ready, I’ve got to leave soon_ ,” His mom said hastily, before immediately hanging up the phone. That wasn’t an uncommon practice in their house, calling each other instead of yelling from a floor away, so Dean wasn’t much surprised by it.

After taking a moment to realign himself with the real world, Dean made his way downstairs to the kitchen. It wasn’t exactly fun to have his room upstairs on the same floor as everybody else, but he spent most of the time down in the basement in the rec room anyways.

Sam was already sitting at the kitchen counter scarfing down a bowl of pasta when Dean got there. “You okay Sammy? They sending you to boarding school or somethin’?”

“Not funny,” Sam said flatly, taking a breathing break. “Mom’s dropping me off at Andy’s and we’re leaving soon.”

“Soon as in now,” His mom said, walking into the kitchen. “Jody just texted to remind me I am late already.”

What Dean had forgotten about Friday nights, since they only started recently, were his mom and Jody got together and did a Facebook-cooking-Livestream-thing, he wasn’t quite sure of exactly what they did but he knew it got her out of the house every week.

“So,” She continued, “I’ll be at Bobby and Jody’s place, your dad’s there too, we’ll be home sometime after midnight, Sam’s gonna be gone until tomorrow.” She pulled the empty bowl away from Sam and shuffled him into the porch. “You’ve got the place to yourself until then and there is pasta in the microwave and all I need you to do is have the dishes dried, alright?”

Dean nodded as she hurried around the kitchen, collecting a few odd tools and ingredients they’d need later.

“Okay,” His mom said once she seemed to slow down. “I’ve got everything and Sam’s good to go,” She muttered to herself. “You good hun?” Dean nodded again. “Well if you wanted to have someone over you know the rules, no girls after midnight and all that.”

“Got it,” Dean said. “You know you can slow down a bit, right?”

She stalled for a moment, looking perplexed. “Late, I’m late, remember? You are good and I’ve got Sammy, so I can go. Bye, Dean, I’ll probably see you when we get home but good night.”

With that, she quickly walked up to him, gave Dean a side hug and all but jogged out the front door where Sam was waiting in the car.

Perplexed by hurricane Mary, Dean just slowly walked over to retrieve his bowl of pasta from the microwave, then he remembered.

He’s home alone.

~~~~~~~

Calling Cas had been kind of a last-minute thing, but it was only dinner-time so there was a grace period before it was too late for Cas to come over and have it be worthwhile.

Well, any time with Cas was worthwhile to Dean, but you get the point.

He had also lucked out that Cas was near his phone when Dean called. Cas was the kind of person to leave his phone somewhere in his house and not think about it for seven hours because he was busy doing something else.

Cas had picked up though and an hour later he was on his way over to Dean’s.

He had been to Dean’s house before so Dean didn’t bother deep cleaning it or some shit, he just dried the dishes like his mom asked and tossed a few shoes into their respective entryway closet.

In terms of cleanliness, Dean himself hadn’t changed anything except trading his jeans for sweats and he figured that they looked good enough on him and it wasn’t a fancy date, so he just kept them on.

It was just a casual date. A casual date in which he and Cas were going to talk about the future of their relationship and the open status of their sexualities.

Just casual. RIght.

Dean had decided that they’d hang out in the rec room downstairs and brought a Pepsi for himself and one of those sparkling water things Sammy likes to drink for Cas downstairs along with a healthy supply of sugary foods and popcorn.

He would have had pie but there was no pie in the house, popcorn was a good substitute though.

Dean was watching a, very quiet, Doctor Who rerun when he finally heard Cas pull up. It was quite dark now due to the sun setting earlier since it was slowly approaching winter so Dean didn’t have to worry about Cas hiding his car.

And the ‘friends’ thing. He just didn’t think his parents were up to date enough on teenager friendships to understand the suddenness of it the same way Benny or even Sam would.

Dean met Cas at the door, making sure it was closed before greeting Cas with a kiss.

They stayed in the entryway for a moment, even after they stopped kissing. Dean backed away first though, softly saying, “Hey.”

“Hello, Dean.”

It amazed Dean how quickly he had become accustomed to Cas’ formal greeting. Enough so, that it made him smile.

“Let me just hang up your coat,” He said, letting Cas drop the trenchcoat into his hands. “Just toss your shoes to the side of the mat somewhere.”

Cas, not unexpectedly, neatly tucked his shoes into the corner. Perfectly out of the way. Dean rolled his eyes fondly. “Do you have a problem with my shoe placement?”

“No,” He chuckled lightly. “You’re just too much of a perfectionist to _toss_ your shoes like I specifically instructed.”

“Causing disorder and potentially damage to your home is not something I intend to do, Dean.”

Every fibre in Dean’s being begged him to tell Cas that he had no problem if Cas wanted to cause ‘disorder and potential damage’ to Dean’s bed, but he didn’t.

That was another thing he wanted to talk with Cas about today.

“So, you wanna head downstairs? We can just chill in the rec room, my folks aren’t supposed to be home for like five hours.” Cas nodded and started to follow Dean to the stairs.

They managed to get seated and comfortable before Cas finally brought up the actual reason Dean asked him to come over. “You mentioned during our phone conversation earlier that you thought there were things in our relationship we needed to talk about,” Dean flinched at the part about talking, he knew what that would normally mean for a relationship, but there was no other way he could get the words across to Cas, “You did also mention that this was not a bad talk.”

Cas stopped there, apparently leaving the floor open to Dean to shed some light on the situation. 

“I like this- us,” Dean started, forcing himself to say what he was thinking instead of burying it. “And I wanna keep doing it for the foreseeable future, or whatever.”

“I do as well,” Cas said, not sounding as confident as he usually is.

Dean sighed, running a hand over his mouth once. “It’s like this. I like you and this whole dating thing, but I ain’t plannin’ on coming out to everyone anytime soon. That’s just how it is.”

“I would not force you to reveal yourself to anyone,” Cas said. Both of them were facing forward and not at each other, so discerning more than that was impossible. “But either way, I am also not planning on ‘coming out’, as it is referred to, publicly before the conclusion of this school year either.”

Something that felt eerily like a sigh of relief escaped Dean. 

After a moment of silence, Dean whispered a question. “What about coming out to a few people?”

Finally, Dean turned his head enough to see Cas squinting at him. “Are you asking if I would consider that for myself or if I would recommend it to you?”

“Both, I guess.”

“There are some people, most notably Gabriel and Balthazar, who I feel inclined to tell. I do not think they would care, nor do I care what others will think of me due to my sexual orientation in truth, but I still feel as though it would change things.”

“I get that,” Dean said, “I’m also just not ready to be inside a changing room if everyone knew. Things will be different at a liberal college if I get in, but I can’t do that here.” He paused, before adding with a whisper, “And I really don’t know how my Dad will react.”

“I think you should only come out when you are comfortable and to whom you are comfortable sharing that part of your life.”

Dean nodded. “So what if I did come out to someone?”

Cas squinted at him. “I do not know what you are asking, Dean. I have the same amount of experience with the matter as you do.”

“What if I didn’t want to do it alone?”

“I trust you with my secret, just as you trust me with yours,” Cas said simply. “That was the intention of meeting at Charlie’s cottage without knowing each other’s identity.”

Dean smiled at the memory. That date was closing in on two months ago now.

“So you're suggesting…?” He asked.

“If you were to willingly and intentionally come out to someone, Sam perhaps, I would not have an issue with you revealing the true nature of our relationship to them.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” Cas nodded, “If you trust someone that deeply, I have no reason not to as well.”

Dean smiled. “So are we making some sort of coming out pact or something?”

“A pact implies any of this is obligatory, while I do not wish for you to completely keep everyone in your life in the dark about me, I will not force you to do anything.”

“But,” Dean said, “If something like that starts to bother you, we should talk about our relationship or whatever. There’s no point in either of us going through that alone where we should be in this together.”

Cas nodded. “We should be writing this down,” He said idly.

“Write what down?”

“We have already discussed several matters involving our relationship and the public factors of it and our status as openly queer, I thought perhaps if we compiled a list of do’s and do not’s for the future it would be beneficial to us.”

“You want to make a gay dating rule book?” Dean asked, only half teasingly.

“Hardly a book, just a few things so we know where the other stands in case of certain events.”

“Events, such as?”

Cas thought for a moment. “Confrontation to either of us about our sexualities, how we should handle something such as that.”

“I’m not allowed to lie about it,” Dawn said, elaborating when Cas tilted his head in confusion at him. “When I first- first admitted any of this to myself…” He took a deep breath, “I said I wouldn’t ever directly deny it. I can change the topic or dodge the question entirely, but I can’t just lie and say that I’m straight, that feels too wrong.”

“Unless it puts you in physical danger,” Cas said, with a slight edge in his voice.

Dean smirked. “No need to get protective Cas, I know. The only exception would be if I was in serious danger. But I hope I never actually get put in that situation.”

“I hope that as well,” Cas responds distractedly, “That, however, is not the world we currently live in.”

“I know,” Dean said quietly, taking one of Cas’ hands in his own.

They stayed quiet for several moments. Now may be one of the most gay-friendly times to live in, bar the bronze ages if some facts he’s heard are accurate, but that didn’t mean they were entirely safe.

“What about you?” Dean asked. “Do you have any rules you like to add to the rule-” He caught Cas giving him a look, “rule _list_?”

“I have a few suggestions.”

Dean got a few pieces of paper and an erasable pen, he had a thing against pencils and not being able to erase stuff, and they started to talk. Cas wrote it down, he was better with wording and actual printing.

It, while taking breaks for snacks, bathroom, and just fooling around in general, took until Cas had to leave before they got the entire list finished.

During that time they talked about a lot of things.

First and foremost they discussed individually keeping their sexualities a secret along with their relationship. There were several rules about that, the one about not denying it, allowing each other to reveal their relationship if they so wish, having at least one person in on the secret so it’s not completely hidden (Charlie counts until either of them feel differently), people they tell have to be sworn to secrecy, no pretending to flirt or be dating a girl just to hide anything, and especially never joining the side of a homophobic person and should go against them if comfortable and able.

Another point that Cas had brought up which Dean really liked was that their relationship would progress vaguely as any other high school students’. There was no specific timeline but they both agreed that if it generally reached the time when they would usually want to introduce a partner to family or friends they should talk about and consider doing it.

They also made sure to stress that, secretly or not, they were a part of each other’s lives.

There were a few little things, more along the lines of relationship rules than queer relationship ones, but it was easier to stop yourself if you were actually breaking a rule, the human brain is weird like that.

_No means no, regardless of the situation._ Always a good thing.

_They can’t take anger out on one another._ This was especially applicable to frustration due to being closeted.

_They can go to each other for help through,_ and _Going to each other with insecurities and other little things like that. _No one else would ever fully understand their situation.__

__Another suggestion of Cas’, as he seemed to be the more emotionally available of the two, was to have a conversation like this one every month or so, for as long as they were together. A small part of Dean was very happy he wasn’t expected to talk about his feelings any more often than he was comfortable._ _

__The last thing Dean suggested, and the last to make the list, was perhaps his favourite. He was not sure they would even be together that long, but he hoped, at least the optimistic part of his brain did, that it would last._ _

___If they were still together by homecoming, they would go together. Publicly._ _ _

__“You’re right,” Dean said as Cas wrote the list again for himself to have a copy, “It isn’t long enough to be a book.”_ _

__“It is a list, just as I said it would be,” Cas smirked._ _

__Dean rolled his eyes. “Okay smart guy, but a list’s gotta have a name.”_ _

__“Why?” Cas asked, giving Dean the adorably squinty-eyed look. Not for the first time that night._ _

__He shrugged. “That’s just how lists work, you’ve gotta put a name to the top.” Dean tapped a finger dramatically at the blank uppermost portion of the list in front of him.”_ _

__Cas looked at him fully now. “What do you suggest we call it then?”_ _

__“The Closet Rules,” He said after a moment. When Cas shot him another look he just said, “I know it doesn’t sound like what it is, but I like it.”_ _

__Instead of answering Cas just looked away, rolling his eyes. He still neatly wrote it in the heading of both lists though._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just me shamelessly using the title in the fic lol.


	11. The Closet Rules, Transcribed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a list if you're interested.

  1. You cannot lie if directly questioned about sexuality/relationship (unless dangerous) you can change topic/dodge the question though.
  2. If one wants to come out to someone they may say they are dating the other.
  3. At least one person in each’s life must be in on the secret, aka not a complete secret.
  4. The relationship should progress as if it is a ‘normal’ (heterosexual) relationship.  
4.1. This includes events such as meeting each other's parents.
  5. No pretending to be in a relationship with/interested in a female for secrecy purposes.  
5.1. No speaking to someone female specifically to encourage the thought that one is heterosexual.  
5.2. No flirting with others.
  6. Once a month (for the duration of the relationship) discuss feelings and thoughts on the secrecy/coming out and any related topics.
  7. No means no, regardless of the situation.
  8. No pretending to not to know the other, schoolmates and friends in public.
  9. If someone is told the truth (or finds out), they are sworn to secrecy.
  10. Go to the other with insecurities, in this together/no one else would truly understand.  
10.1. Go to each other for help.
  11. Even if others don’t see it, we are part of each other’s lives.
  12. If someone is being homophobic (or otherwise insulting) the other you cannot join in and should speak against it if able.
  13. You cannot take anger out on each other.
  14. If we are still together/still feel like it, we come out on Homecoming Day, together.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mostly made from my own personal thoughts on this matter, I am pan but I never dated another girl so I don't actually have any experience with any of this. 
> 
> If you have any opinions or ideas or anything, I'd like to hear it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be updating on Sundays!
> 
> Thanks to Van’ty for betaing!!
> 
> Thank you for reading, leave a comment or kudos to show the love/what you think!


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